


Protect Me

by thatonenerdygeek



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, I have no idea how else to tag this shit, Jack is a creeper, M/M, Mafia AU, Rhys is a rebellious teenager, Teen Angst, Unhealthy Relationships, Violence, slight Manipulation, underage stuff, what more could you ask for?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-10-16 10:03:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10569042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatonenerdygeek/pseuds/thatonenerdygeek
Summary: Rhys desired more from life. However, he never knew exactly what he desired until he met Jack, one of Hyperion's top hitmen. Then it all made sense. The adrenaline rush, the danger, the attention...and Jack was the one to give it to him.





	1. Jack

**Author's Note:**

> I. I really have no idea how to explain this fucked up story. But I do want to make it clear right off the bat that Rhys and Jack don't do anything completely sexual (as in, no sex, no masturbation, nothing) until he turns 18. Until then, you can just expect a lot of creepy 'out of line' touches, minor ass groping and Jack generally being kinda creepy. 
> 
> I don't know what else to say about this. Any feedback is very welcome at this point because I have no idea what the hell I'm doing anymore.
> 
> ~Follow my Tumblr and come say hi! [hancock4prez.tumblr.com](http://hancock4prez.tumblr.com)

**Saturday, July 18th - Rhys - 19 Years Old**

 

“Nngh, fuck... _Jack_...”

“Tell daddy what you need, kitten.”

“Mmn...h-harder. More...”

Years ago, Rhys never would have slept with Jack after one of his hits. The blood that stained his clothes would just make him woozy, the idea of what had happened just hours ago would make his stomach churn and god, the headspace Jack would be in just terrified him. But now...now, he looks forward to Jack coming home after a hit. The blood no longer bothers him. The idea of what had just happened wasn’t really a big deal. And shit, Rhys always knew that he would wake up deliciously sore the morning after.

There were a lot of things Rhys would do now that he never imagined he would ever do. Jack was a damn bad influence and their relationship was absolutely fucked up. But fuck, he loved it.

Yeah...things weren’t always like this, not always this fucked up.

And that’s probably where this story should start.

 

***

**Thursday, November 7th - Rhys - 16 Years Old**

 

“So, how much do you want for it?”

“I...I don’t know. What the hell does it matter?”

“The more you pay me, the more believable it’ll look.”

Pursing his lips, 16 year old Rhys shifted on his feet, glaring down at the floor as he thought about his situation. He had already gotten into deep shit last month for stealing $50 from his parents so he could help Nisha pay for the weed she got. And that was just $50. August was no joke. Everyone at school heard rumors about how much he charged for a decent fake ID. But according to everyone who went to him, the prices were damn worth it. Fuck, if his parents freaked out over just $50...

“Maybe...$100 and a little something extra?” Eyebrows raised, Rhys’ teeth sunk into his lower lip with a hopeful look. He had heard from some of the girls that went through August that he accepted...certain other forms of payment. And Rhys had done it himself once or twice. The last time being with a bouncer at a new club everyone was raving about. Just a simple blowjob, nothing more. Rhys didn’t like the idea of using his body much more than that. Using his mouth? That was perfectly fine.

Though, August didn’t seem too keen on the idea. Scrunching up his nose, he merely stared at Rhys like he was crazy. “I’m not into dudes, kid.”

“Soooo, just close your eyes? Come on, just try it. And if you don’t like it, I can friggin’ figure something out to get another hundred. Okay?” Rhys crossed his arms over his chest with a soft huff. Not like that would ever happen though. He was damn confident in his blowjob abilities. And he knew August would soon see that he had every reason to be confident.

“I...shit, fine. If - _if_ \- I like it, $100 and a blowjob. If not, it’ll be $200 and you’ll get a decent ID.”

 

***

In the end, Rhys was able to happily walk down the street to the nearest bus stop with a sore jaw and multiple ideas running through his head as to how in the hell he’ll be able to come up with $100 in the next few days. The easiest option would be to...well, steal it. And probably make his parents hate him. To be completely truthful, he really wouldn’t want them to hate him. They’ve dealt with his shit for the past year without threatening to kick him out or do anything too major. They were good people and yes, there were times where Rhys...did feel bad for the shit he’s done to them. But he knew exactly why he was acting the way he was and he expected them to realize it too. Unfortunately, they hadn’t yet.

So, maybe taking the $100 from them would be the last resort. What else could he do? Maybe sell his blowjobs in school. $10 for a handjob, $30 for a blowjob. Knowing some of the closeted jocks, he would be able to get $100 in no time. Hm. Maybe he could do that as long as he was careful. The last thing he needed was to have any teachers finding out about him...well, whoring himself out for cash. He was already in deep shit for constantly skipping out on his math classes. It wasn’t that he hated math, it was just...okay, yeah, he fucking hated math.

But hey, didn’t everyo-

“Oof!”

Blinking rapidly, Rhys stumbled back with his hand pressed to his forehead. Why the fuck would there be a brick wall in the middle of a sidewalk? Was he just crazy? Did he somehow zone out and run into a building or something?

“You okay, kid?”

Mismatched eyes scanned the area in front of him, making him realize that no, he hadn’t completely zoned out and ran into a building. He had instead ran into some guy, a few inches taller than him and apparently with a very hard chest. A very...broad...kinda sexy chest. Ah, shit, this wasn’t good.

Once Rhys cleared his throat and lowered his hand, he forced himself to get past the mild embarrassment of suddenly running straight into someone to...at least try to explain himself. “Y-Yeah, I’m sorry, I, uh...guess I kinda just zoned out for a second there. So, um...sor...ry.” As soon as Rhys actually looked at the man’s face, any thoughts quickly flew out the window. This guy...was _gorgeous_. Shit, not even gorgeous. Handsome, perfect, totally fucka...ugh, he really needed to calm himself down.

But really...what were the odds that Rhys would run into his friggin’ dream guy so randomly? There had to be something wrong with this guy. Well...okay, except for the fact that he was most definitely older and Rhys was still in high school. But hey, things could be worked out, right? No, he had to snap out of it. He didn’t have the energy to worry about dating anyone. Even if this guy was totally unbelievably hot.

It wasn’t just his face. Though, his face was pretty damn nice. Rhys would seriously believe it if the guy said his face was sculpted from stone. A sharp jawline, gorgeous heterochromatic eyes (this was the first time he had ever met someone else with different colored eyes), high cheekbones, a nice pair of lips and...ah, shit, was he staring? He was totally staring. But fuck, he couldn’t help it. Even the scar on the guy’s face made him look so goddamn hot. And his body...shit. It was _nice_. Not too...big, from what he could see at least. Broad shoulders, broad chest (and hard, clearly), large hands that just...hngh.

“Uh...did you really hit your head that hard, kiddo?” Oh, and his voice was just pure _sex_. Fuck. Shit. He just asked something. Uh...right.

“Sorry, I, uh...you, um...sorry for...running into you?” Rhys offered an awkward smile as he tipped his head, one hand lifting up to rub at the back of his neck. “I was just zoning out and...yeah, I think I said that already. Okay. Well. I’m being awkward, I should probably just, uh...go...catch my bus.” Only to further embarrass himself, Rhys offered a pair of finger guns before he parted from the stranger. One part of his mind was screaming at him to stay and build up a conversation so he could at least know who the guy _was_. But the rest of his body wasn’t listening. Hastily making his way towards the bus stop in the distance, the teen grumbled under his breath, cursing himself for making such a fool out of himself in front of someone so freaking _hot_.

However, his movements began to slow when he heard a pair of footsteps directly behind him. He hesitantly looked back over his shoulder, eyebrows raised in question. “S-Sorry, did you...uh...okay.” Blinking in confusion, Rhys watched as the man continued to walk forward until he was right in front of him. From that point, the man turned around to walk backwards instead, being sure to face Rhys’ embarrassed self.

“What were you zonin’ out for, hm?” This guy actually...wanted to keep talking to him? Wow.... _Fuck, okay, Rhys, snap out of it. He could have bad intentions and you do **not** want your dead body to end up in some random dumpster._ After taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Rhys followed the man as he walked backwards.

“Just...got a lot on my mind. That’s all.”

“Saw you coming out of August’s place. Got anything to do with that?”

Well, fuck. This guy wasn’t like...an undercover cop or anything, right? Shit, that would be just his luck, wouldn’t it? Nervously, Rhys glanced down at his feet, refusing to make eye contact as he shrugged his shoulders. “Dunno.”

The man responded with a booming laugh, one that nearly sent shivers down his spine. “Ah, come on, kid, I’m not gonna rat ya out. Hell, I’m the last person that would rat someone out for that. So, figuring out how the hell to pay for an ID or somethin’?”

Rhys felt a small bit of relief when the guy said he wouldn’t rat him out or anything. But still, he was wary. There’s no way someone would be having this kind of conversation with him without bad intentions. Shit, what did he just get himself into?

“How much, kid?”

“Huh?” Startled by the question, Rhys stopped in his tracks again to stare at the elder male, brows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“How much do you need for the fake ID?” God, this guy was looking at him like he was crazy. Like it was totally normal to be asking this kind of thing. _News flash, dude, not normal._

At first, Rhys just mumbled the amount under his breath, hoping the guy would just drop the subject so he could get on the bus and get home. As hot as he was at first (and still is), there was just something...weird about him.

Of course, life wasn’t gonna be that easy on him. The unamused look the stranger gave him in response pretty much told him that he knew what Rhys was trying to do. With a heavy sigh, Rhys gave in and gave the amount, being sure to leave out the, ah...alternative payment.

“One hundred dollars. Now, I need to get ho-”

“How about we talk about this over coffee, cupcake?”

Talk about...okay, _what_? What the hell was this guy talking about? What the hell was going on? Before Rhys even got the chance to comprehend what the fuck was happening, one of the stranger’s arms was draping over his shoulder and he was being led away from the bus stop. Uh uh. No. Rhys had a bad feeling about how this was gonna turn out and there was no way he was gonna let it come to that.

Gritting his teeth, Rhys extended his arm forward before ramming it back with his elbow jamming right into the stranger’s stomach. The stranger groaned out in pain and his arm fell from around Rhys’ shoulders, giving Rhys only a few seconds to put some distance between the two of them. And he didn’t waste a single goddamn second before he was pulling his drop point knife out of its sheath, its tip pointed straight at the man. Though he was visibly shaking, he felt like it was more from the rush of having the upper hand rather than being afraid. As long as the guy didn’t have a gun...he could win this fight, right? Wait, was it even a fight right now? No...he was just defending himself. Telling the jackass to back the fuck off. But if it turned into a fight, he was probably safe.

While doubled over and rubbing at his stomach, the stranger laughed out, almost sounding like he was in shock. “Damn, kid, where did you learn that?” In response, Rhys just blinked, caught off guard. Uh...’learn’ it? Did...Did he even learn it from somewhere? It’s not like he took any self-defense classes or anything. Not even any martial arts. Huh...guess it was just...instinct? Maybe?

Not sure how to answer, Rhys just stared intently at the older man, waiting for him to make a move. Uh uh, he wasn’t about to let his guard down. But...to his surprise, the guy just...stood up straight and grinned at him. What the hell was going on? Was Rhys having some weird dream and he didn’t know it? ‘Cause all of this was just...really weird.

“You have...a lot of potential, kiddo. And since you’re already putting yourself into illegal situations, I trust you wouldn’t tell a single soul if I told you a little secret.” This guy was dangerous. Rhys could tell just by the way the aura around him completely changed when his voice dropped down low, almost to a threatening growl. And...potential? What the hell did he mean by that? Shit, what the hell did he get himself into? Sure, he...he fucked with some illegal shit. The fake ID, blowing dudes way older than him to get what he wants, even trying some of the weed Nisha got when she offered. Though _that_ was becoming more accepted, was even technically legalized a couple months ago. But at the time, it was still illegal and taboo to even mention it in public. Still...he had a feeling that none of that compared to what this guy was gonna tell him.

Not really having much of a choice, Rhys merely shook his head. He didn’t even trust himself to speak. His throat felt bone dry and his voice was surely going to crack if he even tried. The stranger was satisfied with the non-verbal answer, though.

Humming out, the man cocked his head and thoroughly looked Rhys over, to the point where even Rhys himself was uncomfortable with the attention and just wanted to hide himself. But eventually, the stranger spoke up, a hint of amusement in his tone at first. “You’re scrawny as shit. We’d have to work on that. But the way you fought me off, the way your stance is with the knife...could use a kid like you in Hyperion.”

That’s when Rhys felt like he was going to pass out. Everyone...everyone in this small little town knew about Hyperion. Hyperion and Atlas were the two largest mafia groups in the area, and rivals as well. But Hyperion...Hyperion was more successful. More brutal as well. While Atlas mostly dealt with drugs, narcotics and things like that, Hyperion had hitmen. They were fighters and they were all about money. If someone failed to pay Hyperion then...well...an obituary would be in the newspapers the next week. Rhys was smart enough not to mess with the mafia but...clearly, he somehow got himself right in the middle of it.

Swallowing thickly, Rhys began to lower his knife and carefully tuck it back into its sheath, assuming it was probably best not to be pointing a weapon at someone that’s part of Hyperion. There was a long, awkward silence between the two of them as Rhys continued to open and close his mouth, not sure what to say. Hyperion could use someone like him? What did that mean? He knew damn well this guy was proposing something but he was just...in too much shock to fully comprehend _what_ that was.

It was only moments later when Rhys finally gathered up the courage to speak up. “So...w-what are you asking me?”

This time, a small smile played on the stranger’s lips, making him seem...far less intimidating and much more like the handsome, kind man from before. “I can take you under my wing, kid. Ain’t gonna get you into any real shit until you’re older but you can be trained until then. Learn how to shoot, proper defense lessons, show you how shit gets done, blah blah blah. Take real good care of ya.” As he spoke the last sentence, the stranger stepped towards Rhys, much to the younger’s dislike. Rhys’ instinct told him to pull his knife out again, but his brain screamed at him to be logical. This guy was part of Hyperion, pulling a knife out on him for a second time would surely get him into some deep shit. So, instead, he merely stood there, body completely tense and barely even breathing as the stranger reached up to pat his cheek with a calloused hand.

“I don’t need an answer right away. Need you to be 100% positive, ya know?” Still caught up in his shock, all Rhys was able to do was nod, his breath still caught in his throat from having this guy so close. If this was any other situation, Rhys would’ve tried to seduce the shit out of the guy. Just going by looks, he was still...very much Rhys’ dream guy. But of course, that had to be ruined by him being in the fucking mafia. 

From that point on, Rhys just sort of...blocked out most of what the stranger had said. Something about seeing each other soon, not telling anyone...things like that were what Rhys just vaguely remembered. And vaguely remembered just nodding in response to anything he said, probably looking like a complete idiot.

Oh, his name though...he remembered that pretty clearly when he laid back in bed after finally getting home, contemplating the huge - and rather dangerous - offer he had been given. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to forget that man’s name even if he wanted to.

_Jack_.


	2. Accepted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly shocked from all of the positive feedback. I've been nitpicking this goddamn story ever since starting it, thinking that Rhys was too OOC, thinking the dialogue was too awkward, thinking Jack was way too creepy and blah blah blah. But I'm really glad to know that you guys seem to like this. I'll definitely be continuing as much as I can, though the overall plot is still in the works.
> 
> Feedback is always, always appreciated and more than welcome <3

**Friday, November 8th - Rhys - 16 Years Old**

 

School sucked. It seriously _sucked_. Especially now that Rhys really had to sit through his math classes so he wouldn’t fail the whole goddamn thing. Luckily, he wasn’t exactly bad at math. He just found it boring. He actually did pretty well when he would sit through the classes like he was supposed to. Having Vaughn there helped keep his mind off of how utterly boring it was.

Vaughn was...well, his best friend ever since they were in elementary school. At first, Rhys hadn’t known what to think of him. Vaughn had a tendency to be more...on the awkward side. Never liked to put himself in any kind of danger either. So while Rhys would be hanging off of the monkey bars by the backs of his knees, Vaughn would be under him going through all of the possible ‘dangerous’ scenarios that could happen. He could fall and crack open his skull, he could break his arm, his leg, pretty much any body part he could think of. But in the end, the two of them were able to become good friends despite their differences. They both enjoyed video games, they both were pretty good at math (though while Vaughn loved it, Rhys found it boring even back then), and they both had a love for reading. 

Now, they...certainly had more differences than they did before. Vaughn hated the fact that Rhys got himself into trouble all the time. He hated that he messed around with illegal shit too. Vaughn was...Vaughn was good. Rhys, in many ways...wasn’t. Not anymore, at least. He could probably be classified as a typical...’rebellious teen’. Especially because of why he did these kind of things. Maybe that was the best way to describe him. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. Either way, he enjoyed what he did.

And looking back at it, he really...really enjoyed the adrenaline rush he got last night. When he pulled his knife on Jack and prepared himself to fight if he needed to. Of course, a part of him was scared shitless too. But a big part of it was...just this huge adrenaline rush that he was still trying to get over. When he had woken up, the first thing he thought about was Jack’s offer. God, it was such a crazy offer and Rhys would be even more crazy to accept it. He had school to get through, friends to hang out with and...and wouldn’t he just be letting all of that vanish if he accepted the offer? Letting all of that vanish for a life of training, hard work and bloodshed. Eventually, at least. It didn’t really seem like Jack was too keen on the idea of having him do any dirty work while he was still underage. Still...that would be his life. Was that really what he wanted? What _did_ he really want? 

“...-week’s lesson. For now, study up for your test on Monday and have a good weekend.”

Rhys blinked in confusion as he only caught the tail end of what the teacher was talking about, his eyes darting around the class to see that everyone was already beginning to head out. Of course, Vaughn stayed behind, one hand clasped over his shoulder.

“You okay, bro? You zoned out for pretty much half the class there.” Did he? The almost concerned look on Vaughn’s face confirmed that yes, he definitely was zoning out for that long. Eh, at least it was the end of the day. Waving his hand dismissively like it was no big deal, Rhys began to shove his books into his bag before standing up and stretching out his limbs with a soft groan. 

“Just had a long night last night. Didn’t get much sleep. We still on for this weekend? Game night at your place?” With a grin, Rhys made his way out of the classroom with Vaughn trailing right behind him. 

“Hell yeah, we are. Bunkers & Badasses, right? Should we invite the girls too? Even though Sasha gets kind of...scary when she’s competitive?”

Rhys snorted in amusement. That wasn’t a lie. Just because of how Fiona presented herself, one would think that she would be the scary type while playing any sort of games. But in reality, her little sister was an absolute demon when it came to Bunkers & Badasses. There had been a couple times where they had to completely stop their games when Sasha very...roughly flipped over the whole board and sent everything flying. Even though she apologized later, they had been hesitant to let her join back in after the last incident. Maybe this time they could invite her back as long as she calms the fuck down this time. 

“Yeah, sure. Just remember to move any breakable objects out of the living room this time. Were your folks able to replace the vase that got knocked over?” Rhys glanced back at Vaughn from over his shoulder once they stopped at his locker. Judging by the grimace on his best friend’s face, they probably weren’t able to. 

Vaughn’s parents were...they were good people. They felt more like his own parents rather than just his best friend’s parents. There was a time recently where Rhys had sprained his ankle while getting off the bus at school. Rhys _had_ called his parents to get him picked up but after three tries, there still wasn’t any answer. Meanwhile, Vaughn tried his parents and they answered right away, saying that they were more than happy to take him to the hospital to get it checked out. They...yeah, they were really good to him. Treated him as their own. And it felt...nice.

God, he was getting sappy. Shaking his head, Rhys went to grab his phone after slinging his jacket over his shoulder. However, the flashing green light made him pause. No one ever texts him during school hours. Rhys furrowed his brows and turned on his phone to read the text, ending up even more confused than he already was.

 **August** >> _Come over after school, kid. We’ll get your ID done._

Wha...what? Okay, was he in the Twilight Zone or something? Yesterday was confusing as shit. And now today was starting to get confusing as shit too. Why the hell would they do the ID when August has a firm ‘Payment first’ policy? What the...what the _hell_?

“I, uh...huh.” Completely at a loss for words, he didn’t even know what to tell Vaughn. He knew about him going to get the fake ID, he even knew about the...’alternative payment’. But he still had no idea how to explain what was going on. Because even _he_ didn’t know what the hell was going on. “Okay, so, uh...I guess I’m getting my ID done today.”

Seemingly just as utterly confused as he was, Vaughn stared at the phone incredulously as Rhys showed him the text. “But...you haven’t even paid him yet. Except for...well, yeah. B-But you haven’t given him any actual cash yet.”

“I’m confused too. But, uh...I’ll let you know what happens when I get home, I guess?” Flashing an awkward smile, Rhys tucked his phone into the pocket of his jeans before shutting the door to his locker. From there, the two parted after a hesitant ‘Good luck?’ from Vaughn and a promise to meet at his house tomorrow night. 

Whatever was going on, Rhys really had a bad feeling about it.

***

“Sorry, _what_?”

August rolled his eyes dramatically as Rhys stared at him, jaw practically dropping to the floor. “I said it was friggin’ paid for, kid. Do I need’ta spell it out for you? Just sit the hell down and get your goddamn picture taken.”

As tempting as it was to just accept that it was already paid for and move on, it just didn’t make any sense. Rhys wasn’t gonna be able to live like that if he didn’t found out what happened. “Uh uh, who the hell paid for it? I don’t know anyone who would spend $100 on _my_ fake ID.”

“Kid, cut the shit. There’s no way Jack, Jack of _Hyperion_ would come waltzing in here to pay for some stupid kid’s fake ID if he didn’t know ‘em. Paid extra too, so you’re getting quality shit. Now for the love of fuck, just sit the hell down.” Rhys had no choice but to comply when August began physically shoving him towards the chair set up towards the back of the room. Even though he was moving, he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing at all. What August said just...completely shocked him. So, Jack...Jack seriously paid for his fake ID? Hell, he paid _extra_ so he could get the best possible option? At this point, Rhys couldn’t understand what the hell was going through that guy’s head. They barely knew each other. And Rhys didn’t give him any answer as to whether or not he accepted the offer or not. What was he trying to do, butter him up so he’ll agree? God, this guy was starting to have ‘creeper’ written all over him.

Rhys went through the fake ID process in a daze. He barely even listened to August when he was explaining what ‘his guys’ would do to make sure it’s as believable as possible. The only thing on his mind that he could focus on was Jack and...why the hell he would pay for...ugh. All of this was making his head hurt, it was so surreal. Someone that’s a part of Hyperion was paying a lot of attention to him and it was just...weird. He never thought he was ever special enough to warrant some sort of special treatment. So the fact that Jack was doing this...it was weird. That’s all he could think. It was just really, really weird and shocking. And...if Jack was doing what he thought he was doing...it was working. Rhys really was starting to think more about his offer and...possibly accepting it. If this was the kind of treatment he would get then...who wouldn’t accept? Pff. Probably people with a good head on their shoulders that realized they had a better life ahead of them without the mafia being involved.

After tucking his new ID into his pocket, Rhys gave August a small wave before exiting the small building and heading out into the chilly November air. He shivered and zipped up his leather jacket, though that really didn’t help too much. Rhys was never a big fan of the cold. Especially when he didn’t have someone to warm him up at night. Hmph. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about getting a-

“Got your ID, cupcake?”

An embarrassingly high pitched sound left Rhys’ lips as he spun around to face the owner of the voice. What he came face to face with just made his heart drop to his stomach. Jack...of course it would be Jack. Because his life just had to get even more confusing. Jack was standing right in front of him, lit cigarette between his thick fingers as he leaned against the brick wall of August’s building. The man flashed a knowing grin as Rhys glared at him.

“What? Come on, I spent a few hundred bucks on that ID of yours. A thank you would be nice. Or do we have to teach you manners too?” Oh, screw this guy.

“What the _hell_ is your problem? I never gave you an answer. Why the hell are you doing all of this?” Rhys wanted to say more, wanted to curse the fucker out for acting like such a creeper and an asshole. But not only did he think that was probably a terrible idea, but Jack began to come up to him, which caused his breath to hitch in his throat like it had done last night. This time when Jack touched him, it was gentle. Those calloused fingertips just barely touched his hair as he tucked it behind his ear. If this was anyone else, Rhys probably would’ve melted into their touch and purred. But...this was Jack. The creepy asshole that wants him to be part of the mafia. Still...Rhys couldn’t control the shiver that ran down his spine as his thumb brushed over his cheekbone.

“You’ll be treated well, kiddo. Give ya a nice place to stay...give ya anything you could ever ask for. All for the price of joining Hyperion and being my little apprentice.” He made it sound so...simple. Like it was no big deal. But Rhys was still unsure. Extremely unsure. Yeah, it sounded great when Jack put it like that. But was it really that great? Probably not. Being in the mafia was probably anything but great.

“Tell me these things then. Will I still be able to see my friends?”

“Of course. As long as you don’t tell them shit about what you’re doing.”

“Will I still be able to go to school?”

“Uh...yes?”

“Tell me honestly and cut the bullshit this time...what would I really be getting myself into?”

For once, Jack seemed to be the one that was at a loss for words. As if he didn’t expect Rhys to be so blunt, to actually want to really know what he would be getting into. A moment of silence passed before Jack finally breathed out a sigh and spoke up. “Kid...it’s gonna test your limits. Physically and mentally. Physically, we’d work on getting you not as...thin and lanky. Or else you would never last a day out there. You’d have to build up your strength to handle real weapons and properly handle yourself in a fight without them. Mentally...you’re gonna end up seeing a lot of shit, kid. Shit that can scar someone for life. When someone doesn’t pay, you’ll see a brutal torture you’d never seen before. If they still refuse, you’ll see blood and guts. You’ll be around a lot of death, pain and agony. And you’ll get hurt. Without a doubt, you’ll get hurt. _But_ , you’ll also be protected. Wilhelm would be your guard until you’re ready to protect yourself. Nothing gets past Wilhelm so you’ll be in good hands. And I’ll have you under my wing, kid. You’ll be fine for now. Again, until you’re ready to protect yourself. From that point on, any shit you get into is on you.

“What you can expect is this; you’ll be trained for the next couple years. That’ll include strength training, learning how to shoot, how to properly defend yourself, how to negotiate properly and all that shit. You’ll also accompany some of us while we do our jobs, to get a feel for how shit gets done. And once you’re old enough, we’ll place you in a position that I feel is best for you depending on your skills. All the while, you’ll be staying with me so I can keep a good eye on you. Any other questions you need to ask, kid?”

That was...a lot of information to process. For now, Rhys just shook his head while he tried to take in everything Jack had told him. So...it was pretty dangerous, that was for damn sure. But it would also be kinda...nice. His home wasn’t the greatest. It was really just a crappy little two bedroom apartment. But surely Jack had a nice place, right? Jack had said he could have anything he could ever ask for. That...that definitely sounded nice. On the other hand, though...yeah, it was dangerous. Maybe more dangerous than he had expected. He knew Hyperion was brutal but he didn’t know they even _tortured_ people who wouldn’t pay. A small part of him didn’t want to be associated with that. A small part of him thought he would be best just declining and moving on with his life.

And a small part of him wanted to feel that adrenaline rush again.

“I... _may_...accept your offer.” Rhys’ voice was laced with uncertainty. There would be no backing out once he said yes. But...it really was tempting. He’d feel powerful, he’d feel that adrenaline rush constantly, he’d be living a much more exciting life and...that _really_ did sound good, despite how dangerous it could be. The question was, could he trust Jack - and Hyperion in general - to look after him? This wasn’t something he wanted to do without the complete assurance that they wouldn’t just completely ignore him and his needs like his pa...hmph.

“What’s your hesitation, kitten? I’ll take good care of ya.” This time, Rhys desperately wanted to melt into Jack’s touch as thick fingers ran through his hair. He wasn’t used to this. Whenever he had...less than innocent interactions with guys, it was always just a blowjob and they would part ways. Jack’s actions...confused him. Not only because they still barely knew each other, but because it was almost...sweet. Romantic, in a way, despite the situation. 

With a shaky sigh, Rhys allowed himself to give in and lean into Jack’s touch. A part of him, a part way back in his mind, thought that maybe Jack had already found out his weaknesses. His stupid...selfish desire for attention, for love, for...everything he felt like he wasn’t getting as of yet.

What Rhys missed as he closed his eyes in content was the almost...predatory grin on Jack’s lips and the slight glint in his heterochromatic eyes. As well as the complete look of pure approval as Rhys murmured out four words in a tone that was almost robotic sounding.

“I’ll accept your offer.”


	3. Breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had gotten to the point with this where I just wasn't really interested anymore. I was stuck on a scene that I really didn't know how to move forward with it but once I got past that, I'm starting to realize this is honestly one of my favorite stories I've written so far. And I hope you guys are still enjoying it as well!
> 
> Comments and feedback are always greatly appreciated <3

**Saturday, November 9th - Rhys - 16 Years Old**

 

He hadn’t gone home. He hadn’t gone home and...no one called. Not even a text. What could he expect from his parents though? The only time they ever acknowledged him was when money went missing. Stupid. Fucking stupid.

“Kid?”

“Huh?” Rhys perked up at the sound of Jack’s voice, focusing back in on his surroundings rather than his list of texts on his phone. Jack had taken him out for breakfast. To celebrate their...’partnership’. After spending the night at Jack’s place (which was so much more extravagant than he had expected), Rhys realized that he...wasn’t all that bad. Jack spent a good half hour straightening up the guest bedroom for Rhys to sleep in, while Rhys had half expected him to just shove him in the room and part ways for the night. It was nice, the care Jack put into making sure he was as comfortable as possible. Even went as far as giving Rhys some older articles of clothing for him to wear while he stayed there. And after realizing that Rhys hadn’t eaten anything after lunch during school, Jack pretty much dragged Rhys out of bed to take him to breakfast.

“You have a habit of zoning out, you know.” Jack stared at him with an amused grin, his chin propped up on the palm of his hand, fingers tapping against his partially scarred cheek. “What’s on your mind, little kitten?”

If it were anyone else, Rhys would have punched them for using such... _embarrassing_ nicknames. But coming from Jack, Rhys couldn’t help but blush as a small smile played on his lips. “It’s, ah...it’s nothing. Just...thanks for the hospitality so far.” God, thanking someone like that just felt so awkward. Especially when Jack just laughed at him. It would be fine to hide under the table to hide his embarrassment, right? 

“Come on, kiddo, I wasn’t laughing _at_ you. Well, I was, but not like that. Just don’t need to thank me for that kinda shit, ya know? I’ll show you that same hospitality as long as you’re around.” Rhys...Rhys didn’t deserve this. This was crazy. All of this was still so surreal. Jack was the guy of his dreams. He was _perfect_ , excluding all of the mafia stuff. Even that was sorta...not _that_ bad. Legally? Pretty damn bad. But for Rhys’ standards, it...wasn’t the worst. Especially now that he knew how much the adrenaline really affected him. God, Vaughn would kick his ass when he fo...shit, Vaughn.

“Hey...Jack? Can I ask a couple more questions?” With his hands laying in his lap, Rhys toyed with his fingers as he glanced at Jack from across the table. Unable to really answer after taking a sip of his mimosa, Jack simply waved his free hand for Rhys to continue. Fuck, would he get mad if he asked? He might as well just go for it. “Well, um...so...I have a friend. He’s my best friend. Vaughn. We have game nights at his place almost every weekend with a couple of our other friends and, um...tonight is game night and I was just...wondering if I can...still go?” Rhys flashed an awkward smile, eyes filled with hope. It would absolutely suck if he had to stop their game nights just because of his decision. 

But Jack just...shrugged, pushing the glass of orange juice and champagne towards Rhys before leaning back in his chair. “Don’t see why not. Kid’s gotta have a social life, right? May stick a mic on ya, just until we build up enough trust between each other. Don’t wanna risk you going around runnin’ your mouth.” 

“I wouldn’t-”

“I’m _sure_ you wouldn’t say anything, kitten. Can’t risk it though. You understand that, right?”

With a grumble, Rhys slumped into his seat and nodded, reaching out to take the stem of the glass between his fingers. He brought the glass towards him and merely stared down at the orange liquid for a moment. Having a mic hooked up seemed like a little overkill. But...yeah, this was Hyperion they were talking about. If word got out to the wrong person that he was in the middle of it all...it was probably understandable that Jack wanted to make damn sure he didn’t say anything. His parents though...if they ask where he was, what the hell is he supposed to say? No, he’d deal with that when the time comes. For now...shouldn’t he just enjoy this? And enjoy the fact that Jack gave him alcohol without even thinking about it? He’d usually have to bribe or convince someone to give him a drink. Or just sneak it.

“Your folks though...” Rhys raised his eyebrows as he took a sip of Jack’s mimosa, slightly surprised that he was mentioning them. “That’s just not gonna work out, y’know? If I’m gonna have you join Hyperion, can’t have some friggin’ parents gettin’ in the way.” Before Jack even finished his sentence, Rhys knew where this was going. And he wasn’t having any of it.

Rhys slammed the glass down hard enough to draw attention to the two of them, to which Jack sent him a warning glare that Rhys would’ve been freaked out by if he was in a normal headspace. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t. All of his filter was gone and any thoughts of what Jack could do for talking back to him were already far out the window.

“No. _No_. I know what you’re hinting at and I won’t let you do anything like that to them. They’re good people, okay? They...T-They may have been dense as fuck when I needed them most and they may not still realize what they did and _sure_ , they may not have fucking called or texted to find out where I was last night because they’re probably busy in their own little world right now but that’s...” This was the point where Rhys realized what he was doing. And regretted it immediately. 

Lips pursing together, Rhys ducked his head with a mumbled apology, his hands shaking on top of his lap. Jack wasn’t gonna like this. Jack was gonna fucking hate him for this. Fuck, he was dead. He was _dead_. There was no going back from this, he just talked back to someone who’s probably a huge friggin’ deal in Hyperion. And he...shit, he talked about his parents. He never talked about his parents like that with anyone. He hated talking about them, bringing up all of that shit. Fuck, why wasn’t Jack saying anything? _Oh god, I’m in deep shit, aren’t I?_

“Hm.” That was all. Just...the smallest hum. Nothing else. When Rhys looked up from under his lashes, he watched Jack give his charming smile to anyone who was still looking in their direction thanks to Rhys’ outburst. Now Rhys felt even more afraid, to the point where his hands were beginning to sweat. What...What if they guessed what was going on and reported it? Then Jack would get in trouble and...fuck, then he’d really be dead.

After giving a small wave to the last person that was looking their way, Jack turned his focus back to Rhys and he was...surprised by how quick the look in his eyes changed. When he was smiling at everyone, he seemed...sweet, very open and approachable. 

Now? Now, their was an undeniable anger in Jack’s eyes, which was only further proven by the way his tan knuckles turned white as he gripped his knife. A-At least it was a dull knife, right? Though, anything could be a weapon with enough force behind it. Fuck... _fuck_.

 

**Saturday, November 9th - Jack - 38 years old**

That kid...had friggin’ _nerve_. Oh, Jack would make him tell that whole story about his shit with his parents later. Right now, he had to deal with a disobedient little...

To Jack’s surprise, Rhys didn’t really... _look_ like a disobedient little shit when he really focused on him. Instead, Jack could see the droplets of tears that clung to his lashes, just threatening to release and roll down his cheeks. He was visibly shaking too. And Jack realized that his reaction was from one of two things. Either the fact that he had hinted at pretty much executing the kid’s parents _or_ Jack looked angry enough to freak him the fuck out. Either way, the kid seemed far more sensitive than he had ever expected, which he made a mental note to work on in the future. For now, he had to focus on calming down so he didn’t completely scare the teen away.

Taking a deep breath, Jack leaned back in his chair and rubbed at the side of his scarred face, his mismatched eyes drifting up towards the ceiling. “I don’t want you to think you’re off the hook right now, because you’re not. I’m pissed. But I’ll need to figure out a proper punishment for you later.” Once Jack glanced back across the table, he was content that Rhys seemed at least slightly more relaxed. Enough to stop looking like a goddamn kicked puppy.

“So, we’ll figure somethin’ else out for your folks. What do they like? Money? Power? Traveling? I’m open to suggestions, cupcake.” While Rhys contemplated his question, Jack went back to his breakfast. So, the kid didn’t want them dead, but there was clearly something that he hated them for. But not big enough to want them dead or hate them _completely_. Probably just a little bit. Looks like the kid held a bit of a grudge. A grudge Jack would be happy to deal with once the kid stops pissing him off.

“Well, they...they don’t have a lot of money. I took $50 from them a while back and they had a complete fit. Um...my mom used to travel a lot before her dad, my grandfather, stopped supporting her financially. My step-dad, um...I guess he likes traveling too. Whenever my mom talks about her traveling days, he seems pretty envious of her.” 

“And your biological da-”

“Not gonna talk about that.”

Huh. Jack stared at Rhys with his eyebrows raised high. _That_ was interesting. Rhys took no time trying to avoid that subject. It made Jack wonder if that was part of the grudge the kid held. But he had a feeling that if he tried to push it any further at this point, Rhys would have another outburst. Which was fine as long as it wasn’t in a friggin’ public place. 

So, Jack made the smart decision to throw his hands up in defeat and change the subject back to what they were originally talking about. “Alright, fair enough. How about...I’unno, sendin’ them off somewhere? How about this...” Leaning forward, Jack folded his arms over the table, only slightly amused by how Rhys seemed to instinctively lean back away from him. Ah, it’ll take a while to fully warm up to him. “If I had you just...’randomly’ give them two tickets for a year long stay somewhere, do you think they’d accept it and go without taking you?”

Despite what Jack thought was a brilliant idea, Rhys scrunched up his nose and shook his head. Dick. “That’s not believable at all. I mean...would you ever think of hearing that happening to someone?” Well, the...the kid did have a point. “But, I...I like the idea. Something along those lines. Just more believable. Fake lottery tickets? My mom, she...she keeps talking about wanting to live overseas somewhere. Pretty much on the other side of the world. If I convinced them to use the ‘lottery money’ to move, maybe say that I should stay here to focus on my education or some shit...would that work?”

This kid...was friggin’ smart. It was a good idea. A damn good idea that he can make work. Shouldn’t be too hard to come up with enough cash to let them live comfortably overseas. Maybe make a few calls to some work places to free up a place or two. But it was a bit surprising to see Rhys so...willing to send them off somewhere. So, the kid wouldn’t have them killed, says they’re good people, has a grudge against them but would also be perfectly fine without them. This...This was an interesting kid. Jack needed to get the rest of Rhys’ backstory or else it was gonna really start to annoy him.

***

But nothing was more annoying than listening to all of these friggin’ _nerds_. 

Jack had been laying back in his bed, going over Hyperion’s weekly reports while he halfheartedly listened to whatever came from Rhys’ mic. At first, it was interesting to see how the kid interacted with people when he wasn’t around. He certainly seemed more relaxed, and much more of a nerd than Jack had originally thought. 

What had been even more interesting was realizing how much he and the kid were alike. Judging by the conversations, Rhys seemed to be pretty damn good at math, but absolutely hated doing it. Heh. Jack was like that throughout most of his school years. Straight A’s in math all the time, still found it completely friggin’ boring. And he also got the feeling that Rhys...quite liked the idea of power. He and...the fuck was his name again? Bond? Ron? Vaughn? Eh, whatever. He and that guy had a conversation about what they were gonna do once school finished. Jack had been pleased that Rhys didn’t mention Hyperion at all. And he was even more pleased to hear him talking about starting up his own business, becoming a CEO. The kid had all the right ideas. It was just a matter of building up the rest of his skills to make it happen. Or, something similar at least.

Kid got a good head on his shoulders, just got himself into some fucked up shit. Which was also similar to Jack’s story as well. If he didn’t have any plans for him, Jack would’ve told him to stop fucking around, focus on his education and follow his dreams. But this was reality, Jack _did_ have plans for him. Rhys had so much potential to do great things in Hyperion. That was obvious by how he just naturally fended him off, by how perfect his stance was when he pointed his knife at him. Who knew what the kid would end up doing once he got older, once his skills got better. Would he be a hitman like him? Lead their financing department? Either way, he knew damn well that Rhys would be good at whatever it will be.

Except for playing Bunkers & Badasses, clearly. 

“God, kid, you make the worst possible decisions.” Jack ran his hand through his thick hair with a loud groan. Rhys had two options. Options that seemed pretty obvious which one he should take. Try to fight the dragon at his low health or find cover and lose a turn to recover a portion of health that he had lost. This idiot decided to fight the dragon and was hit with a crit and now hopefully regretted his decision completely.

“ _H-Holy shit, Rhys, that was fucking hilarious. That was all on you too! Could’ve just gone for cover._ ” One of the girls practically wheezed.

“ _Seriously, bro. We all knew that dragon was gonna kill you, critical hit or not. How did you not see that coming?_ ”

“ _I-I had plans, okay? **Good** plans if I came out of that fight with at least a sliver of health after that turn. I could’ve...could’ve...ugh, fuck it. Screw you guys._ ”

The corner of Jack’s lips twitched up in amusement. The kid was entertaining, for sure. Especially when Jack had told him he would be getting his punishment later for what happened at breakfast. Rhys looked like some weird mix between turned on and frightened. Eh, shouldn’t be turned on or frightened, really. Jack wasn’t about to do anything like _that_ before Rhys grew up. And it’s not like he was gonna friggin’ torture him or anything.

Just...make him suffer a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I totally headcanon Rhys as being completely shitty at Bunkers & Badasses.


	4. Punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand here come the warnings. There is some mention of past child abuse in this chapter. If that is a sensitive topic to you, I suggest you skip Rhys' POV at the end or skip this chapter as a whole.
> 
> Comments are always very appreciated <3

**Saturday, November 9th - Rhys - 16 Years Old**

 

Rhys was...in no way looking forward to going back to Jack’s penthouse. After thinking about it, he really doubted Jack’s ‘punishment’ would be anything sexual. Jack had been really pissed. _Really_ pissed about what he had done at breakfast. Honestly, even Rhys himself was pissed at...well, himself. He probably wasn’t officially a part of Hyperion and he was already fucking stuff up for them. He just hoped that no one got an idea of what was going on.

Stopping just outside of Jack’s door, Rhys stared down at his phone while he texted his mother. It definitely didn’t feel great to lie and tell her that he was spending the night at Vaughn’s. But he had to buy Jack time to gather up the money, fake the lottery tickets, etc. He knew this would work as long as Jack was able to make everything seem 100% believable. 

Yes...he didn’t mind having his parents overseas. Yes, that might seem crazy to some. But...he had his reasons. For one, this way he didn’t have to go home and face his mother, lying to her face about where he had been. And this way, he didn’t have to be hit with a wave of memories whenever he saw their faces. Despite what happened in the past, they were good people. But the past was just something that Rhys couldn’t let go of.

“Jack?” After slipping his phone back into his pocket, Rhys began to undo the small mic from the inside of his jacket as he entered the penthouse. The only sounds Rhys heard was coming from Jack’s...office? That was his office right? He still needed to get used to where everything was. With a soft sigh, he held the mic in his hand as he took of his jacket and left it to hang on the coat hanger. Now that his mind was more clear, Rhys decided to take this time to really examine the inside of the penthouse.

It was gorgeous. Modern. Filled with black, white, cream and dark brown colors. When the lights were on, the living room was bathed in a warm, gentle glow. It made something so modern seem so...comforting. Sort of like Jack himself. He seemed so rough and tough until he just...flashed that charming smile of his and Rhys could easily melt where he stood. So in a way, this place really suited Jack and his personality. 

The living room was rather small, with only two modern looking black loveseats and a glass coffee table. There were a couple steps leading down into the room, which made it seem more separated from the rest of the house. The kitchen, however, was much more open. Gorgeous marble countertops on both the normal counters and the huge island in the middle. Plain black stools lined the outside of the island and were still slightly out of place, with a couple empty glasses on top of the marble, making Rhys think that Jack had had some sort of get together recently. Hm...maybe he’d clean that up tomorrow. It’s not like he had anything else to do.

As Rhys made his way down the hall, he decided to peek into the other rooms along the way. With the lights off, he couldn’t exactly tell how the bathrooms looked. But from what he remembered, it was just as marvelous as the rest of the house. Definitely a lot of marble and a huge bathtub that he couldn’t wait to take a bath in. God, that bathtub could probably fit five people. But Rhys was selfish and definitely wanted to have that tub all to himself. Maybe with the lights off, some scented candles and...geez, he could never let anyone know that he likes to take baths like that. 

And the guest bedroom was insane. Insanely huge. Before Jack cleaned it out, there had been some boxes, suitcases and other miscellaneous things scattered throughout the room. Once it was all cleaned out, Rhys was just...in complete awe. There was a gorgeous canopy bedframe made out of mahogany and a friggin’ huge king bed on top of it. On top of the bed were these white silk sheets that were so comfortable, it was hard for Rhys to want to get out of bed in the morning. The pillows were so big and fluffy and the blankets were so soft and...god, he really wanted to just lay down and go to sleep. But...no. He couldn’t. Jack...Jack still had his punishment waiting for him. God, if only he had kept his stupid mouth shut for once.

“Jack?” Rhys tried again once he neared the office, cautiously peeking his head inside. The sight in front of him could’ve easily made Rhys drool if he wasn’t close to being scared shitless from what was to come. Jack was leaning back in his office chair, feet propped up on top of the table, white dress shirt unbuttoned halfway and...fuck. Now Rhys was getting turned on and he really shouldn’t be.

“Like what you see, kitten?” Blinking, Rhys’ gaze drifted up to Jack’s amused face, unaware that he had just been very obviously staring at his chest this whole time. Upon being discovered, Rhys’ cheeks began to heat up in embarrassment, causing him to duck his head and attempt to hide his face.

“U-Um...sorry. You wanted to see me when I got back...right?” He had no idea what Jack had in store for him. If his punishment wouldn’t be anything sexual, it had to be something serious. There was no way Jack would go easy on him for almost exposing them. 

Not even bothering to look in his direction this time, Jack merely waved his hand towards the corner of the room before flipping through the papers in his hands. “Go face the wall. I’ll be with you in a minute.” And that was it. Jack left no room for argument. So, Rhys gathered up whatever courage he had and made his way into the office, walking over towards the corner of the room on numb legs. Not knowing what Jack had planned was terrifying. There was no way for Rhys to properly prepare himself. All he could do was awkwardly twiddle with his thumbs and just...wait.

Since he didn’t dare to pull his phone out, Rhys didn’t know how much time had really passed since he had been standing there. But it certainly felt like it was more than just a minute. The sound of the office chair creaking made him tense up, and the sound of footsteps on the hardwood floors made goosebumps raise on his arms. The one thought that freaked Rhys out even more was the fact that...he had no idea what Jack was even capable of. He hadn’t asked Jack what his job was in Hyperion but from what he’s gathered so far, he was pretty high up there. And he just _seemed_ dangerous. Like Rhys had to do one wrong thing and Jack could easily snap his neck. Hopefully...hopefully what happened at breakfast wasn’t bad enough to warrant...killing him.

Rhys parted his lips to speak, to apologize, to say _anything_ before something was placed in front of his eyes, completely blocking his vision. Instinctively, Rhys lifted his hands to pat around, only feeling a smooth, thick fabric covering his eyes and felt the tug as Jack tied...whatever it was behind his head. This...this wasn’t sexual, right? Rhys would feel much less terrified if it was but...he really doubted it. Still...a blindfold? What in the hell was Jack thinking? 

“When I ask you a question, you’ll answer me. Understood?” 

Rhys’ mouth was completely dry, but he still managed to croak out a quick ‘yes’. Hesitantly lowering his hands down to his sides, his nails dug into the fabric of his jeans as he waited for...whatever the hell Jack was going to do. Jack, was...Jack was unpredictable. And he would without a doubt use Rhys’ lack of sight to his advantage. So, whatever he was planning...it wasn’t good. 

“This morning at breakfast...now, I don’t mind you talking back to me. I find it nice that you’re a little feisty. But tell me, what in the _world_ made you think it was okay to have such an outburst in a public place? Do you understand how much attention you drew to us? How dangerous that could’ve been if you said the wrong thing?”

Rhys didn’t know if it was Jack’s plan to make him feel guilty but damn, he really was now. Hearing it coming from Jack himself just...made him realize how stupid he had been at breakfast. Not only did he put Jack and Hyperion at risk, but he could have put himself at risk as well. If police caught up to him, they’d...surely they’d find out about some of the shit he’s done too. 

“I...I wasn’t thinking, t-that’s the thing. I just...the only thing I wanted to do was defend them. I wasn’t thinking about how anyone else around us could hear.” Chewing on his lower lip, Rhys waited for Jack’s next question. But in never came. 

The familiar click of a knife opening up was heard instead. And that’s when Rhys’ blood ran cold. No. Uh uh. He knew Hyperion was famous for their torture but there was no way Jack would do that to him. Not yet, not already, not after _one_ little mistake, _no_. 

Beginning to go into a full blown panic, Rhys began to back away from the wall and turn around before the sharp edge of a blade was pressed to the back of his neck. Not having any other choice, he froze in place and squeezed his eyes shut, just waiting for Jack to get on with it already. He knew, he just knew this would be the end of him. 

***

**Saturday, November 9th - Jack - 38 years old**

 

Now, Jack wasn’t looking to kill the kid. Far from it, actually. Though this was supposed to be a punishment, he also took it as an opportunity to test him. Would he fight back? Or would he just give up and accept his fate? Jack hoped it wouldn’t be the latter. He knew the kid was stronger than that. He didn’t just accept his fate the night that they first met. The kid fought back without even thinking about it. But, Jack knew that was also before Rhys knew who he really was. 

And goddamnit, this kid was like friggin’ putty in his hands. All it took was the threat of a knife and he was already more than ready to give up. That was more than a little annoying.

“If this was anyone else but me, say...Atlas or some shit, you’d be friggin’ dead right now. I’m gonna tell ya somethin’, kid. I know damn well that I can kick your ass. So, whenever you wanna fight, do it. I’m more than happy to give you any sort of training opportunities. Think of this as a training opportunity and _fight_. Or else I _will_ leave you bloodied.” Jack growled against the shell of Rhys’ ear, emphasizing his words with a firm press of the knife to Rhys’ skin. His threats were only...partially empty. He’d teach Rhys a lesson, of course. But he would hold back a bit. At least until the kid was trained properly. 

There was a long moment of hesitation, as if Rhys were trying to figure out if Jack was just messing with him or not. And right as Jack was starting to grow frustrated, right as he was about to really give the kid a piece of his damn mind, a switch in that kid just...flipped. Rhys ducked his head and flipped around so fast that Jack didn’t even have a chance to process what was going on before the kid blindly kicked out his leg and shoved Jack back. Still being much more built than the teen, Jack only staggered back for a moment before he regained his balance again. But it was still enough time for Rhys to rip off the blindfold and frantically look around for something to use against him. Though he should have just lunged at the kid right then and there, Jack couldn’t help but smirk at the frantic look on his face. Clearly, he felt far more comfortable with some sort of object in his hand. Jack was starting to learn that these training opportunities were also a nice little learning lesson for him as well, to really learn these parts of Rhys and tailor is training to what he’s more comfortable with. 

Once it got to the point where Rhys was searching for much longer than just a few seconds, Jack decided to offer up another piece of advice while preparing himself for his next attack. “You’ve spent all this time looking for a weapon. If this was a real fight, they would’ve taken advantage of that time and slit your friggin’ neck. If you don’t have a weapon on you or at least a foot away from you, forget it and use physical combat like you just did. _Trust_ yourself, kid.” After Rhys stopped in his tracks and gave a hesitant nod, Jack lunged, aiming for Rhys’ shoulder. Because he would just be friggin’ stupid if he tried to leave a wound where it couldn’t be concealed. 

And this kid just...continued to surprise him. Despite the hesitation to fight without a weapon, Rhys fended him off easily. The knife seemed to knick his arm as he brought it up to block Jack’s wrist with his forearm, temporarily halting the attack. Though it seemed like from that point, Rhys had no idea what to do next. So, Jack offered more of his advice while watching the line of blood run down Rhys’ wrist with a hint of amusement, more so amused that the kid didn’t even seem to notice that he had been cut. 

“Just go with your instincts. When you’re in a fight, forget all of that ‘What should I do next?’ shit. You have the right instincts, so go with them. Me? I gotta think about the shit I do because I don’t have the strong instincts like you do. Take advantage of it and just don’t _think_.” And boy, the kid was good at taking advice.

Before Jack got the chance to react, Rhys was hooking his arm around his own and _twisting_. Eyes wide with a swear on the tip of his tongue, Jack had no choice but to lean down as Rhys mercilessly twisted his arm in unnatural ways, just enough for the little shit to get his other hand on the knife’s grip and snatch it out of his own goddamn hand. Rhys used his own moment of surprise against him. And before Jack knew it, his own knife was being pressed against his throat by a friggin’ teenager. Who was looking...annoyingly attractive with that little sparkle of excitement in his eyes. Ugh, fuck that.

Rolling his eyes, Jack pressed his palm against Rhys’ face, pushing the kid back and ignore the confused sound that bubbled up from him. “Alright, alright, drop the knife, kid. You did good but your punishment isn’t over. Gotta tend to that wound before you get my floor all friggin’ bloody.” Once Jack retracted his hand, Rhys looked down at his wrist in confusion, his mouth then forming into a small ‘o’. This kid was...interesting. For many reasons now. When Rhys got into that headspace...absolutely nothing else fazed him. As great as that was, it could also backfire really easily. Jack wasn’t even sure if Rhys would realize it if he got seriously injured. He would probably just keep going and going until someone stopped him. That would also be something they needed to work on. Somehow.

For now, Jack needed to make sure he didn’t have to clean up any blood from his nice floor.

***

 **Saturday, November 9th - Rhys - 16 Years Old**

 

“I didn’t, um...hurt your arm, right?” Chewing on his lower lip, Rhys watched as Jack tended to the wound on his wrist, starting to put an ointment on it before he wrapped it up. Jack had more or less dragged him into the bathroom once he set the knife down, having Rhys use his _own_ shirt to keep the blood from dripping on the floor. But there was no way Rhys was going to protest after just getting into a fight with the guy. Plus, didn’t Jack tell him he could have whatever he wanted? Could always just buy more clothes, right?

“My arm is fine, kid. Sore, but fine. Now, we need to work on your real punishment.” Grimacing, Rhys just nodded and propped his free arm up onto his leg to rest his chin on his palm. That wasn’t his real punishment? What the hell was that then? A pre-punishment? Ugh, this sucked. But for what he did, he probably deserved it. “We’ll start with the tough stuff first, get it out of the way. What’s your deal with your parents? I want the whole truth, no lies, no bullshit.”

Rhys...knew this was gonna be coming. Ever since he mentioned it, he knew Jack would want to know more. But nothing could prepare him for when he actually had to talk about it. This wasn’t a subject that was ever talked about, with anyone. This was a subject that... _sucked_ to talk about. Vaughn had once suggested therapy, since he was the only one that knew about it. But...the thought of having to talk about all of his shitty friggin’ problems like that just didn’t appeal. 

As if sensing his disapproval, Jack let out a sigh and lifted his clean hand to cup Rhys’ cheek and tilt his head to face his own. “This is a punishment. But it’s also to get you to open up, so I can understand you more. We can’t make this a partnership if you’re not willing to open up. To an extent, I’ll be open to you too. It’s only fair, right?” God, Jack...Jack really knew how to get to him, how to get him to warm up. Yes, Jack...probably had absolutely terrible intentions. He knew that from the very start. But...it felt good. It felt good to feel...almost equal to this man.

With a shaky sigh, Rhys leaned into Jack’s palm and began to murmur out his response. “My biological dad was abusive. Physically. It started when my mom started seeing someone behind his back. That...someone is my current step-dad. I was...8 at the time? 7 or 8, I think. My dad was never a believer of hitting women, but was apparently perfectly fine with beating up his own kid to get his anger out. They were both very...religious, to the point where they stuck with their shitty marriage just so they wouldn’t get divorced. I got caught in the middle of that.

It carried on for...years. Until I was 13. If my mom was out on a date with her boyfriend and my now step-dad, my dad was...taking advantage of her being gone and drinking and beating on me. He drank, did drugs and was just...a generally shitty person for those...5-ish years. He got into physical fights outside of the house too, even got locked up for a couple nights one time. That...was the first time I think my mom realized he had a problem. Before then, I used to use my mom’s makeup to hide any bruises that couldn’t be hidden by clothes. It helped that she and I are a lot alike, even skintone. Very naturally pale.” With a soft chuckle, Rhys straightened himself up and wiped at his cheek with the back of his hand. Crying was inevitable, of course he would get emotional. But...he still continued. Because despite how emotional he was getting, it...felt surprisingly good to get it all out. 

“They finally got a divorce when I told her about his abuse. How he would beat me, how he would get drunk and pass out, how he would take money out of their account to get drugs...but I know I should’ve been more specific. Because I hated talking about it, I don’t think...she ever realized that he beat me way more than one time. I told her that one time and that was it, I never wanted to talk about it again. But to her credit, she...did take pictures of all of my cuts and bruises as proof when they divorced, so she would get full custody of me. Soon after the divorce, she and my step-dad started getting more official, they got married and...yeah. Thinking about it, I guess...I get the adrenaline rush when I fight because I didn’t know how to fight back back then. So, being able to fight back, it...it feels so _good_ , Jack. I...I hate how good it feels but I love it at the same time.”

Leaning back, Rhys rested his head back against the wall behind the toilet where he sat while Jack fixed up his wound. He stared up at the ceiling, shaking his head with a laugh of disbelief. “I don’t open up like this to anyone. So I never...I never realized that that’s...why I like the adrenaline so much. I also never realized that that could be another reason why I’m so...’rebellious’, like I am. ‘Cause I watched my dad do all of this shit. I mean, I’m sure he didn’t suck dick for a fake ID but....” Rhys trailed off when he noticed how Jack’s eyebrows raised in surprise, offering a sheepish smile. Yeah, he...he never told Jack about that, did he? Not like he had any business with his sex life but still.

“A-Anyway, um...yeah...that’s pretty much it. I’ve...held this stupid grudge against my mom because I feel like she should’ve noticed sooner without me telling her. And I’ve held this stupid grudge against my step-dad because if she was home more and not seeing him, my dad...I don’t think my dad would’ve done what he did to me. Could be wrong. Could’ve happened at some point whether she cheated on him or not but still.” With a small shrug, Rhys finally left it at that, not really knowing what else to say. That was...so much more information than he had even given Vaughn when he finally told him a year before his parents divorced. It was weird. Vaughn was his best friend, Jack was...still practically a stranger. Why was he...opening up with him so much?

Whatever the reason was, Jack seemed to...genuinely appreciate it. After adjusting the bandage to make sure it was tight but not too tight, Jack stood up as he reached out to drag his thick fingers through Rhys’ hair. Rhys was stuck between letting out a sound of approval and...being slightly distracted by how suggestive the position was with his crotch right at eye level and...ugh, he had such little control. 

“Stand up and look at me, kitten.” Rhys knew it was a command but Jack’s voice was...surprisingly gentle, which almost made him even more eager to comply and stand back up on his feet, rubbing at his bandaged wrist with a shy ‘thank you’. Jack just grinned at him, pulling Rhys in by the back of his head to press his lips to the center of his forehead. Even though he was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t an actual _kiss_ , Rhys still just... _melted_ in the older man’s hold, having to grip onto the hem of Jack’s dress shirt to keep himself steady.

“I’m glad you told me, kiddo. You...make a hell of a lot more sense to me now. Gotta say, you confused the shit outta me at first.” Jack paused as Rhys chuckled, finding himself moving on autopilot as he tipped his head to rest his cheek over Jack’s shoulder instead. No matter how much he kept reminding himself that he and Jack barely even knew each other, that Jack had bad intentions, that he was getting himself into so much shit...it didn’t matter. Jack felt...right. Jack felt good. Jack....

Jack felt like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack was supposed to be an asshole in this. A manipulative asshole. I don't know what's happened since then but uh yeah.


	5. 17th Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to take a second to point out that I in no way edit any of these chapters unless I notice a typo or anything like that. So, some parts may seem awkward or rushed but that's just because I'm not the type of person that typically edits my fanfic. I say that now because I felt like there were a couple moments in this chapter that felt sort of odd but I had no idea how to fix it.
> 
> Aaaaaand hopefully that didn't scare anyone off because I am still mildly proud of this chapter and how it was written. Mostly, at least.
> 
> Comments and feedback are always very appreciated and they definitely keep me going <3

**Saturday, November 16th - Rhys - 17 Years Old**

 

The first week with Jack was...really, really nice. Training hadn’t really started yet but Rhys had met some of the Hyperion...’team’. Wilhelm was great, the guy who was going to end up being his...sort of bodyguard? He also met another hitman - or...hitwoman? Either way, Athena was scary as fuck at first. Like...really scary. But the second time they met, she seemed a bit more relaxed and they were able to talk a bit more. 

Oh yeah, Rhys had also learned that Jack was a friggin’ hitman, that was an interesting conversation. Rhys had been curious one night and asked Jack what it was that he did in Hyperion while Rhys was folding some of his new clothes in the living room and Jack was cooking dinner. He didn’t really know what he was expecting. But he really wasn’t expecting Jack to basically tell him that he murdered for a living. That...that kept him up the rest of the night. Of course, it was the night before he biology test so he probably did _terribly_ since he was lacking so much sleep. It just...freaked him out a bit. Knowing that Jack really did have the skills to kill, to easily kill _him_ if he ever went too far out of line. And Jack seemed to notice how tense he was the next day and...quickly made everything better by sweet talking him like he _always_ does. Ugh, Jack was just so...hot but sorta manipulative but... _really_ hot. And...kinda sweet. 

He still looked after Rhys like he had promised. Whenever Rhys would feel down because he hated lying to his parents and...well, everyone, Jack wasted no time to sit next to him and assure him that not only was this for Hyperion’s safety but for his friends’ and parents’ safety as well. 

And speaking of his parents...their ‘lottery ticket’ idea had...worked out perfectly. And Rhys wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Friday was the day before his birthday. And also the day his parents made the official decision to move. They were going to move the first week of December, so they would have enough time to find the perfect place and all. At first, Rhys was relieved because the plan had worked. But...then it began to sink in that they were really leaving. The guilt began to sink in when his mother reluctantly agreed that Rhys should stay and focus on his education, but that they would leave a portion of the ‘lottery money’ with him so he didn’t have to worry about rent, food, bills and all of that. It...made him realize that he really did have good parents. They really did care even though they sometimes went off in their own little world sometimes. They...cared about him. They really did.

And that’s what brought Rhys to where he was now, laying on his stomach in his bed with his face buried into his pillow. He had just gotten back from having dinner with his parents before he had to lie again and say he and Vaughn had plans, saying that he was going to spend the night again. He and Jack had worked it out that during the week, he would stay with his parents so it wouldn’t be too suspicious. But during the weekends, Rhys would just say he’s with Vaughn. Vaughn...was okay covering for him once Rhys tried to convince him that he had started dating someone and he was with that someone on the weekends. That was...a lot easier than saying he was a part of Hyperion. Plus, Jack would kick his ass if he told Vaughn the truth. 

“Lookit you, pouting on your birthday. Come on, good ‘ole Jack made ya some cake. You said chocolate was your favorite, right?” Rhys still felt bad, extremely bad. But the mention of chocolate left him lifting his head up a bit to peer at Jack skeptically.

“You really made cake? For me?”

“Well, not _just_ for you. This is my favorite cake recipe, I’d tie you to the chair before I let you hog it all. The baker should get a piece too.” Unsurprisingly, Jack was able to get him to crack a small smile. And his mood was improved just enough to make a joke, one that...was probably more of an offer than it was a joke.

“Shouldn’t the baker get a piece of the birthday boy too?” Resting his cheek over the pillow, Rhys grinned at the older man, almost positive that he would accept his offer.

And for a moment, it seemed like Jack really was considering it, Rhys could’ve even sworn that he stared at his ass for a couple seconds before looking back at Rhys with a chuckle and raised brows. “Tempting offer, kitten. But unlike August and...whoever else you’ve probably been with, I’m not interested in _that_ illegal side of things. After your next birthday though...daddy may consider it.” Rhys couldn’t help but shiver as Jack smirked at him before turning around with a wave of his hand, exiting the room. Hot as fuck? Check. Sweet? Check. Slightly dangerous? Check. Daddy kink? Check. Fuck, Jack really was his dream guy, wasn’t he?

It took a moment for Rhys to calm himself down (and think about blood and guts to get rid of his growing boner) but he was eventually able to get out of bed and make his way into the kitchen. Jack...wasn’t lying. On the island was a...stupidly huge cake, completely covered in what looked like a thick milk chocolate frosting. On top were sliced strawberries that were placed to form an ‘17’ with a circle of whipped cream along the outside of the top of the cake as well as the bottom. Jack really went all out, didn’t he? For...really no reason. Rhys was just some...teen that Jack practically picked up from the streets, thinking he had potential to do something in Hyperion. Other than that...who was he to Jack? Just...an acquaintance, right? 

But Rhys wasn’t gonna let those thoughts bring him down. Right now, Jack was being...really sweet to him. And he just wanted to enjoy that, to enjoy...that attention. 

“You didn’t have to do this, you know. I would’ve been fine ordering pizza or just having store bought coo...kies.” Rhys was slightly taken aback as Jack shut the door to the fridge and turned around with a bottle of red wine in his hand. It...definitely surprised him that Jack was so okay with Rhys drinking and doing other illegal shit. But as soon as Rhys mentions sleeping with him, it’s a definite no. Hmph.

Unable to keep himself from pouting, Rhys rolled his eyes and headed over to sit on one of the barstools at the island. While Jack was busy gathering up a couple glasses, Rhys reached out to dip his finger into the side of the chocolate frosting, sticking his finger straight in his mouth with a pleased hum. Though, his content mood didn’t last for long once he looked up to see Jack staring right at him, the corners of his lips twitching as if he was trying not to laugh. Now completely embarrassed, heat rose to Rhys’ cheeks as he slowly lowered his finger from his mouth, setting it down on top of his lap with a shy smile.

“S’good frosting.” He mumbled, unable to bring himself to say much else as Jack snickered at him and stepped over to set down the wine and the glasses. A small, embarrassing squawk left Rhys’ lips as Jack suddenly reached over to ruffle up his hair. Flailing, Rhys tried to reach up and bat Jack’s hand away, a fit of giggles following soon after. This wasn’t like him at all. When was the last time he _giggled_ like this? Jack brought out a different side to him and...he kind of liked it.

Once the giggling died down, Jack surprised him even further by leaning in close. And god, Rhys _swore_ he was going to kiss him. And...he sort of did. But now how he expected. Instead, he felt Jack’s lips against the corner of his mouth, _so_ close to really kissing him. But it only lasted a second before he pulled away to smile at the teen.

“That’s all you get, kitten. Now, do you want wine with your cake?” It was clear Jack wasn’t gonna let Rhys talk about the kiss. At all. Judging by the way he quickly changed the subject. With a disappointed sigh, Rhys just nodded and folded his arms over the marble countertop. Stupid Jack. Toying with his heart like that. Hell...stupid _him_ for sorta kinda liking a guy that’s twice his age. He really should’ve realized that not everyone is like August or any of the other guys he...well, sucked to get what he wanted. But in a way, that’s what made Jack better. The fact that he wasn’t like those guys, he was actually different.

Still...to kiss him like that and expect him to wait for more until his 18th birthday...ugh. Asshole. 

“Still pouting over there? Kitten, I’m fine with getting myself arrested for some things. Banging a 17 year old isn’t one of those things. Can you be a good boy and wait another year?” The way Jack spoke sounded almost...mocking. And boy, it made Rhys want to punch him in the face. And seeing as Jack seemed...at least mildly interested in him, he knew of the perfect way to get back at him.

“I don’t know. Can you wait another year knowing I can just go around and sleep with whoever I want while I wait?” Batting his lashes innocently, Rhys propped his cheek up against his palm, eyebrows raised as he waited for Jack’s reaction. Oh...and the reaction was _perfect_.

Visibly gritting his teeth, Jack glared at the teen, but said nothing else. Content, Rhys focused on pulling one of the plates towards him and worked on cutting up a piece of cake while Jack continued to glare at the glasses while he poured the wine. He may have gone a little out of line with that comment. And it may not have really been that true. Jack was...so far, the only guy he could really see himself _sleeping_ with. As in...having sex and doing all of that, not just a blowjob and part ways. So yes, technically he could go around and sleep with anyone he wanted but...would he? No. Because Jack was...really the only one he wanted to do that with. And that...kind of scared him.

Rhys wasn’t the type of person to get attached. The issues with his parents gave him the idea that if you get attached to someone, they’ll just end up breaking your heart. He and Jack have only known each other for a little over a week and he already hated the idea of him not being around. That...that needed to change. He just couldn’t risk getting attached like that. Especially knowing that Jack’s job was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. All it could take was one bad hit and...he really didn’t want to think about that.

“So, how’d the dinner go with your folks?” As he carefully maneuvered a piece of cake onto his plate, Rhys shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it but knowing Jack wouldn’t drop it if he didn’t.

“Alright. They...apologized for how they’ve been the past couple years. They realized they’d been...sorta ignoring me. They said they just both felt bad about what happened with my dad. My mom didn’t know how to make up for all of the lost time and my step-dad said he just...doesn’t know how to connect with me. Told me to keep out of trouble while they’re gone.” Rhys snorted, trying to find the humor in it even though he really...really did feel guilty that he definitely _wouldn’t_ be keeping out of trouble. But...he couldn’t do much about it now. He was stuck with Hyperion, even if he wanted to get out. 

Nodding, Jack pushed one of the half filled glasses over towards Rhys. “They won’t need to worry for now. I’ll take good care of ya.” Even though Jack says it often...every single time, Rhys can’t help but smile. It’s nice to hear. And he knew it was a promise. It made Rhys want to work harder to please Jack, because he was going out of his way to look after him. Hell, he went as far as making him a cake for his birthday. Even his parents would just get him something store bought. Granted, his mother wasn’t the best baker, but still. To go through the trouble of making a whole cake for him...it just really touched him.

“You go ahead and put a piece on my plate. I still have to grab your gift.” Ignoring how shocked Rhys was, Jack simply walked out of the kitchen and disappeared down the hall, leaving Rhys to stare down the hall with his mouth hanging open. The cake was one thing, but an actual birthday gift too? Jack was...really going all out, wasn’t he? And it was kind of...nice. But it did nothing to help the fact that Rhys really shouldn’t be getting so attached. Come on, how was he not supposed to get attached when Jack was being so...sweet to him? 

Shaking his head, Rhys forced himself to focus on doing what Jack had asked, cutting up a piece of the cake to put on his plate. He was...actually really impressed by how good it looked. The cake itself looked very moist, not dry at all. And the frosting between the layers was thin, not too thick. He really would’ve guessed that it was made by a professional if he didn’t know Jack made it himself. 

Rhys was halfway through his glass of wine when Jack had come back into the kitchen, holding a black rectangular box behind his back. Jack didn’t say anything as he pushed Rhys’ plate and glass aside to put the box down in front of him, looking almost...giddy. The grin on his face was oddly amusing. Whatever this gift was, he sure as hell seemed excited for Rhys to open it. 

So, he decided not to make Jack suffer too much and reached out to open up the box with a soft laugh. A laugh that quickly faded as soon as Rhys saw what was laying _inside_ of the box.

Inside of the blue velvet lined box was a dagger made out of sharp stainless steel, with a grip made out of...what looked like pure gold, each quillion decorated with a large citrine gem and two smaller diamonds on either side. It was...undoubtably the most gorgeous knife Rhys had ever seen. Before he even realized what he was doing, Rhys was carefully taking the dagger by its grip and lifting it out of the box to inspect it even further. It was a good weight, heavy but not to the point where it was hard to move easily. It was...perfect in every single way. And Rhys only noticed that he had started tearing up when he saw his reddened eyes in his reflection in the blade. Jack...Jack got this for him. This beautiful dagger...Jack got it for _him_. He didn’t have to, he really didn’t have to. He didn’t have to get him a gift, he didn’t have to make a cake from scratch, he...he didn’t have to.

“Jack...I-I can’t accept this, this is...this is amazing, this is gorgeous, but I haven’t done anything to deserve something like this, I...I really haven’t.” Despite what he was saying, Rhys couldn’t even bring himself to put the dagger down. He just kept running his fingers over the blade, tilting it to see how the gems sparkled in the light. The only knife he had was his drop point knife, which was cheap as hell and definitely on the older side. Having something so new and so perfect was surreal. Still...he really couldn’t accept this.

“No, no, I can’t. I...seriously, thank you so much, Jack but I just can’t accept this.” Rhys forced himself to set the dagger back down into the box, even going as far as tucking his hands underneath his thighs so he wouldn’t reach for it again.There was a little voice in the back of his head that was saying he was completely stupid for refusing such an amazing gift. But he’d just...feel bad. What has Rhys done for Jack so far? Nothing. Nothing at all. He didn’t deserve an amazing gift like this. 

Instead of getting mad at Rhys for rejecting the gift, Jack just chuckled and pushed the box closer. “I spent a lot of money on that, kid. The drop knife you have now is shit. You deserve to have a fancy little signature knife like I do. Has your birthstone and everything.” Jack lightly tapped the citrine as if to prove his point. Honestly, that was the first thing Rhys had noticed when he opened up the box. The fact that Jack went as far as putting in his own birthstone to really make it his...how did Rhys deserve this?

“So...you got this for me?” _Stupid question, idiot. Of course he got it for you._

“...Yes? No, I got it for the other lanky little shit living here.”

“Shut up. You...thank you, Jack. This is honestly the best gift I’ve ever gotten. I can’t thank you enough.”

Once Rhys’ sappy moment was over, Jack had helped Rhys move the plates, glasses and the box over to the living room. And that’s where the two sat for the rest of the night, sipping on their wine and eating cake while chatting about whatever came to mind. It was almost scary how much Rhys was able to open up to Jack, after only knowing each other for a little over a week. But...Rhys liked it. He was happy. He didn’t know if it their relationship would change after he started his training but...for now? It felt nice to just...have someone to look up to and admire, knowing that they’d be there for him.

In the middle of Jack talking about his very first hit when he was in his 20’s, Rhys couldn’t help but rest his head back against the couch and just...stare. There was a little glint that Jack would get in his eyes when he was excited, he noticed that when he had given him the birthday gift. Rhys found it so...endearing. He almost couldn’t keep his eyes off of this man, he was so enthralled by how animated he was as he was telling his story, how he didn’t dare leave out even the smallest of details. Jack just continued to amaze him in so many ways. 

***

**Saturday, November 16th - Jack - 38 Years Old**

 

“And so, this guy is friggin’ _gurgling_ , right? Blood is everywhere, my favorite shoes were ruined and he was just...uh?”

Jack stopped before he reached the end of his _awesome_ story when he felt a weight on his shoulder. Eyebrows raised, he turned his head to stare down at whatever was on his shoulder. To his surprise, he was met with a head full of hair and a completely passed out teenager. He snorted in amusement, one hand lifting to lightly ruffle up the kid’s hair, being careful not to wake him up. 

This kid...was really growing on him. At first, he was a little annoying. Jack didn’t really know what to think about the kid after his little outburst last week. But...when Rhys told him his whole story, Jack really wanted to take care of him. Jack had been in his shoes. Been beaten and abused, felt like all he was good for was being a punching bag. Jack got his love for what he does now the exact same way too. Hearing Rhys talk about why he loved the adrenaline so much...it was as if he was hearing himself speak. The two of them were alike in so many ways and in a lot of ways, Rhys was the younger version of himself. 

At this point, not only did Jack want to take care of this kid, but he wanted to _protect_ him. Which sucked. It fucking sucked. Jack doesn’t get attached. That’s just not possible for him. But he felt like this kid deserved it. When he was this kid’s age...as much as he hated to admit it, he probably would’ve loved having someone around that really paid attention to him. And Rhys seemed to _crave_ that attention. Jack would just be a complete asshole if he didn’t give that to the kid.

But when he first met Rhys, he in no way thought he would one day be carrying the sleeping teen to his room, finding that his back really couldn’t handle as much weight as it used to. But he was already halfway down the hall, he had to keep going even if his back tried to give out. Damnit, he was getting old. Not old enough to be unable to take out any of his hits but clearly old enough to nearly collapse once he got Rhys into his bed. The kid wasn’t even that heavy, which just made this situation even more embarrassing. Ugh, he needed to start working out with Wilhelm again.

Before Jack left to go back to his own room, he took a minute to lean against the wall beside Rhys’ bed, just watching his chest slowly rise and fall. The kid had went through a lot of shit in his life. Unlike Jack, he still had parents who were around and did actually care. Not for long though. His parents would eventually go overseas and start a new chapter in their life while Rhys stayed behind to...’focus on his education’. Of course, Jack would have him focus on his education along with his training. He wasn’t gonna risk having people get suspicious because the kid wasn’t in school anymore. He _was_ smarter than that.

But one day...it would be nice to have the kid focus on him and nothing else.


	6. "What am I gonna do with you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually really proud of how this chapter turned out (except for the ending but eh). There's a few lines in here that I'm completely in love with so I hope you enjoy them as well!
> 
> Comments and feedback are always very appreciated and they keep me going <3
> 
> As a warning, some underage shit goes down in this chapter _but_ it's definitely not real and definitely just a part of Rhys' little fantasies.

**Sunday, November 17th - Rhys - 17 Years Old**

 

_Everything was hot. The air around them, Rhys’ skin where Jack’s hands were gripping his hips, their lips as they moved together in perfect sync, Jack’s tongue as it explored his mouth with ease...it was all **hot**. And Rhys couldn’t get enough of it._

_How had they even gotten in this position? With Rhys straddling Jack’s lap as he sat back in his office chair, Rhys’ shirt completely taken off and discarded elsewhere while Jack’s shirt was partially unbuttoned. He was practically clawing at the exposed tan skin of Jack’s chest, as if there were more layers that he could get at. In a way, maybe that’s what he was trying to do. Rip through Jack’s skin, rip through the flesh just to get to his heart, his **soul**. Rhys always opened up to him, much more than he would even open up to Vaughn or anyone else. But despite the sweet things Jack would always do for him, Rhys felt as if he knew nothing about him. _

_He wanted more. He wanted to know how Jack felt about him, he wanted to know about Jack’s past and the thoughts of his future. He was greedy and he wanted **more**._

_“Easy there, kitten.” Blinking slowly, unfocused eyes flickered to where Jack’s hands were holding onto his wrists. When had Jack pulled away? Hm.... Brows furrowed, Rhys was finally able to focus his vision again, this time able to see the red welts he left along Jack’s skin. But Jack wasn’t mad. Far from it, actually. He was actually giving him...one of the gentlest smiles Rhys had ever seen. And god, he just wanted to melt into a puddle in his lap when he saw that smile. Jack had him wrapped around that thick finger of his. And Rhys wouldn’t want it any other way. He was happy to be wrapped around Jack’s finger, to be totally addicted to him. With Jack, Rhys felt safe. With Jack, Rhys felt powerful. With Jack...Rhys felt like he could be himself._

_Rhys lifted his hands, palms cupping Jack’s scarred cheeks with a shaky sigh. “Just kiss me again.”_

_And Jack didn’t have to be told twice. Within seconds, Rhys found himself with his back pressed against the surface of the desk, pens rolling down to the floor and papers flying everywhere. Long legs hooked themselves around Jack’s waist while Rhys’ hands found their way into Jack’s gray streaked hair. The way Jack kissed took his breath away. Like he just wanted to completely devour him. And Rhys would happily be devoured._

_Fuck, it was hot. **So** hot. Really...uncomfortably hot...what the hell?_

Long lashes fluttered as Rhys was involuntarily torn away from his dream. His _amazing_ dream. Damnit, why couldn’t he have handled the heat just a little longer? Things were just starting to get good, hmph.

Speaking of the heat, _why_ was it so hot in the first place? Ugh, the heat must be on. 

Reluctantly, Rhys pushed himself up to sit up straight, taking a moment to stare off at the wall in a daze. He was never really a morning person. School always sucked for that reason. That was also why he started drinking coffee earlier than most. Mm...coffee sounded nice. 

Wait.

How did he get in bed?

Now a lot more awake than he was before, Rhys glanced down at the sheets in complete confusion. He was still clothed which...was both disappointing and a relief at the same time. So, nothing like _that_ had happened last night. But...what did happen last night? The last thing Rhys remembered was Jack talking about his first hit so...what...huh? So...wait, did he fall asleep? Did he seriously fall asleep while Jack was talking to him? God, that’ll teach him not to drink wine late at night. 

So...does that mean Jack...c-carried him to his room? Fuck, why couldn’t he have been awake for that? With a soft groan, Rhys rubbed at the side of his face, feeling his cheeks quickly beginning to heat up. As great as it would’ve been to be awake while Jack was carrying him, it was also extremely embarrassing. He seriously passed out after one glass of wine, passed out while Jack was actually talking to him. Ugh, he really needed to apologize when Jack got up.

For now, Rhys really needed to focus on getting a damn cup of coffee.

***

And somehow, halfway through making his coffee, Rhys found himself whisking together a mixture for french toast with bacon cooking in the oven. It...wasn’t as much for him as it was for Jack. Rhys had thought a lot yesterday about how he really hadn’t done anything for Jack as of yet. Meanwhile, Jack had done...so, _so_ much for him. It’s only fair that Rhys do something small like making breakfast, right? Though, it was a little intimidating. Jack was an amazing cook and a great baker. Rhys...well...he made the basics. He could boil pasta and rice pretty well. He could...make eggs, kind of? That...That was good enough, right? But this was his first time trying his hand at french toast and...well, using the oven. Nothing could go bad, right? It was just french toast and bacon, quick and easy. 

Once Rhys was done with the mixture, he let a small amount of butter melt in the pan while he went over to the fridge to grab fixings for a mimosa. Before he was even able to open up the door to the fridge, Rhys’ eye caught a note on the freezer, the only thing that was actually put up on the appliance. Rhys furrowed his brows, temporarily forgetting his original plan to make mimosas to read the note instead. 

‘ _Hit at 11pm on Friday. Woman who calls herself ‘Clarke’, hit is her boss who raped her a while back._

 _Note to self: Have Wil bring the kid so he can see what I do. Just to watch from afar._ ’

That one note had Rhys’ heart racing and his stomach doing summersaults. The idea of all of his training and everything about Hyperion seemed okay at first. But now that he knew Jack was planning on taking him along to see one of his hits, this...this got so much more terrifying. If he was reading that right, he would see Jack... _kill_ someone. That...he really didn’t know how to feel about that. Jack had warned him that he’d see a lot of death, blood, guts, all of that. But it didn’t seem quite real until now. Now, it was like the reality of everything just smacked him in the face. There was no way he would be able to face something like that. There was no way he would be able to watch someone get murdered. 

What happened to that adrenaline and excitement he would feel? Sure, it...it wasn’t like he was trying to kill anyone in those moments but still. Rhys had hoped that he’d at least feel a little excited to start with any of his training. Would Jack think he was weak for feeling nervous about it? No. He shouldn’t tell Jack at all. He should just act excited about it and...h-hopefully he wouldn’t pass out from seeing blood everywhere. God, that would just be embarrassing. But...that would probably just be part of his training. Building up a resistance to seeing that kind of shit or something like tha-

Rhys was forced out of his thoughts when he sniffed the air. Ugh, smelled like smo... _smoke_?!

“Fuck!” Rhys wasted no time to rush to the oven, where a dark layer of smoke was beginning to billow out of the oven door. It didn’t take long for the smoke to fill his lungs, sending him into a coughing fit as he attempted to pull down the door and let out whatever smoke was trapped inside. Watery eyes searched desperately for a fire extinguisher, a large bowl to fill up with water, _anything_. But it got so hard to concentrate when the fire alarm started going off, the piercing ring blaring in his ears. Fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuck_. 

Everything from that point seemed to happen so fast. In the middle of his panic, searching for something to calm down the smoke or put out a fire if there _was_ any fire behind all of that smoke, he was suddenly being pushed aside with enough force to send him back towards the island, side connecting with the edge with a pained hiss. One hand clutching his side and the other pulling the collar of his (really Jack’s old shirt) shirt up to cover his nose and mouth, though that did nothing to help the coughing fit he was already dealing with and it definitely didn’t help the burning in his eyes. Shit, how could he be so careless? 

Guiltily, Rhys watched in a daze as Jack used the extinguisher that he couldn’t find to put out the fire or...whatever was completely burnt. And...Jack didn’t even wait for the smoke to disperse before he was dropping the fire extinguisher and stalking towards Rhys with pure rage in his eyes. As soon as his large hands grabbed Rhys’ shoulders, the teen squeezed his eyes shut, blocking himself off from the visual of Jack yelling at him.

“What the fuck were you thinking? Huh? If you don’t know how to fucking use an oven, don’t fucking do it. Do you know what could’ve happened if that spread? Were you trying to friggin’ burn my house down? _Were you_?” Jack emphasized his words with a harsh shake of Rhys’ shoulders, his grip tightening enough for Rhys to have to bite down on his lip so he wouldn’t make a sound. There was a long silence between the two of them, the only sound being the fire alarm before it finally came to a stop as the smoke cleared enough. All that was left to hear was the sound of Jack’s heavy, definitely angry breathing. And god, Rhys just wanted to crawl in a hole and hide forever. He also wanted to crawl out of his own body, away from the feeling of his heart clenching in his chest. 

Rhys was always so happy when Jack gave him attention, when he smiled at him and did things for him. When he remembered the little things like the fact that he liked chocolate. But...when Jack gets angry with him, it just _hurts_. And Rhys...doesn’t understand why. He doesn’t understand why he cares so much about how this guy feels about him. But he does. He cares so fucking much. To the point where Rhys found himself trembling under Jack’s hold, unsure of whether it was do to being upset or...scared that Jack would do something to him.

“I wanted to make breakfast for you.” The words were meekly mumbled out, forcing his eyes to open but keeping them focused on the ground instead of Jack’s face. They burned. And Rhys tried to force himself to believe that it was because of the smoke. “Y-You do so much for me and I just...I wanted to....” He trailed off, not entirely sure what else to say. Sniffling, Rhys stepped back when Jack finally let go of his shoulders, as if they suddenly burned him. 

“I should get home.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Rhys turned away to head out of the kitchen and to his room to change.

And Jack didn’t stop him.

***

It was late. Way too late to be out the night before school. But...Rhys just couldn’t say no to Nisha when she invited him out to the new club that opened up. He had his new fake ID, he should use it at least once, right? Plus, what happened earlier in the morning...he just wanted to forget it.

Jack never did call. Never did anything but stick the mic on him like usual before Rhys left. Didn’t...didn’t even speak to him at all. Just hooked up the mic without a word and sent Rhys on his way. A part of him wanted Jack to...go after him, explain, or at least show any interest in him. But no. He barely even _looked_ at him.

A couple thoughts went through his head when Rhys agreed to hang out with Nisha. One, what if Jack was pissed that he was going out like that? Two, what if he got drunk and accidentally ended up mentioning Jack and that he’s a part of Hyperion? Fuck, he would be screwed if he did that. But then he realized he had really... _really_ been neglecting his friends lately. Almost every day after school, Rhys would head over to Jack’s place until after dinner. And then he would go home and finish up any homework he didn’t do while he was at Jack’s place. The only time he had with his friends was at school. And it was even more difficult to hang out with Nisha since she was recently suspended. So yeah, whether or not he regretted this decision in the end, it didn’t matter. He was able to hang out with one of his friends and get drunk, that was all that mattered to him right now.

Two shots of tequila and a gin and tonic later, Rhys and Nisha had found themselves on one of the smaller couches along the wall, just catching up on...well, everything. 

“Being suspended seriously sucks. I never thought I would actually want to go back to school because my mom is such a _hardass_. She had all of my teachers give her copies of the shit I needed to do while I was out of school and now I’m having to do them every damn day. I barely even get a break to _eat_ , Rhys.” Nisha groaned, head falling back to rest on the back of the couch. “At least I can sneak in smoke breaks at school. I can’t even do that at home. Friggin’ sucks.”

Rhys just listened intently, only feeling slightly bad about Nisha’s problems. If he was being honest, she kinda deserved it. The whole reason why she got suspended was because she tried smoking weed behind the school during lunch. Of course she was gonna get caught, it was no one’s fault but her own. She should’ve realized that was a stupid idea. Still, he faked some sort of sympathy and reached out to pat her on the shoulder.

“Sorry, Nish. You’re really not missing much though. Since winter break is next month, I swear all of the teachers are going harder on us than usual because of that.” That definitely wasn’t a lie. It felt like they were getting even more work than usual. Which sucked because that meant Rhys actually had to really focus on his shit if he wanted to pass his classes. 

“Ugh, let’s not talk about school anymore. I’m gonna go dance for a bit. Hold my drink?” With a chuckle, Rhys nodded his head and took her half empty glass of rum and coke. Nisha didn’t waste any time to get up and weave her way through the group of people dancing until Rhys couldn’t even see her anymore. Then, he was just left to his own thoughts. Which was proving to be dangerous.

All he could think about was Jack and...that sucked. A lot. The whole point of him going out like this was to forget about him, even just for a few hours. But his mind kept wandering back to him, to that look of pure anger on his face, to the way he didn’t even look at Rhys after that. He hated how much all of that got to him. Why should it? They still barely knew each other, why does Rhys care so much about Jack being pissed at him? Fuck, he needed to get Jack off his mind.

Deciding to abandon both of their drinks, Rhys got up from the couch and make his way towards the crowd before a...slightly familiar face made him stop in his tracks. 

When Jack had him meet Wilhelm, Athena and everyone else, he had noticed a few signs posted up on the walls of their building. Curious, he had asked Jack what they were, since they were just...pictures of men and women dressed in fancy black and red suits. That’s when he learned more about Atlas and their group. Atlas was Hyperion’s rival in many ways. Hyperion couldn’t even try to start selling drugs or anything like that because Atlas was the only group anyone ever went to for anything good quality. The signs were posted up as a reminder to watch out for them, since they were also infamous for trying to sabotage Hyperion’s work. 

The person Rhys saw was...undoubtably Atlas’ leader. The red cuff on his black jacket just further confirmed his suspicion. And the guy was fucking huge. Not as much as Wilhelm was but still enough to make Rhys instinctively back away when he looked in his direction. Fuck, this was bad. Sure, he wasn’t an official part of Hyperion yet but he was still taken in by Hyperion’s top hitman, and was going to be trained to eventually work for the group. Being so close to someone in Atlas was dangerous, extremely dangerous. Especially if they knew about him. Fuck, shit, fuck, where was Nisha? He needed to come up with an excuse for them to get out of there. 

In the middle of his frantic searching for his friend, a strong hand suddenly gripped his upper arm. Instincts told him to fight the person off, whether he was in a public place or not. And just as he was about to pull his drop point knife out of his back pocket, he was able to see who it was out of the corner of his eye, and calmed down in an instant with his hand frozen on his pocket. 

“Jack told me you’d be here. Atlas has a deal going down soon, we need to get you out of here before more comes. They already know about you, those assholes will take any opportunity to get on Hyperion’s bad side, especially Jack’s bad side. Which means you’re a target right now.” Wilhelm’s voice was gruff and matter of fact as he pulled on Rhys’ arm in an attempt to guide him towards the exit.

“B-But my friend is-”

“She’ll be fine as long as she isn’t stupid enough to get involved with them. Let’s _go_ , Rhys.” Reluctantly, Rhys began to follow Wilhelm to the exit while nearly tripping over his own feet, being too focused on Atlas’ leader to pay attention to walking properly. He was looking straight at him, eyes intense and burning into him as he leaned against the bar with a drink in hand. It was terrifying. If looks could kill...Rhys would be six feet under right now. 

He only snapped out of it once the guy was out of sight, when he was pulled through the door to the club and back out into the chilly air. Once they were about a block away from the club, Wilhelm finally let go of Rhys’ arm, allowing him to wrap his arms around himself in an attempt to warm himself up. God, it was cold. But that also helped sober himself up and realize what the fuck just happened. He nearly got caught in...so much shit. Who knows what Atlas would’ve done if they got their hands on him? 

But what scared him even more now was the person who came out of a familiar black Cadillac. 

“I was able to get him before Atlas did. They saw him though. One was approaching before I grabbed him.” Rhys kept his head down, feeling more guilty than ever as Jack approached the two of them in silence. First, he tried to make him breakfast and nearly burnt down his kitchen in the process. Now, he tried to have a night of fun but nearly ended up in the hands of Atlas. God, Jack...Jack didn’t deserve the shit Rhys did. He just-

“Come on, kid. Text your parents on the way and tell ‘em you’re staying with the nerd an extra night. You’re staying with me tonight so I can figure out how to keep you safe.” Surprised, Rhys looked up with Jack with wide eyes as he placed a large hand on his shoulder. Jack...wasn’t mad? He didn’t seem mad at all. He didn’t sound mad either. Just...well, Rhys couldn’t tell how Jack was feeling right now. He was good at hiding his emotions. So no matter how much Rhys tried to search his eyes for a hint of _something_ , it was just useless. 

Rhys just nodded, not sure what he could even say to Jack, but still took the time to give Wilhelm an awkward ‘thanks’ before he was led over to the car. The hand on his upper back was gentle, just a light pressure that made Rhys feel...safe. Just...safe.

***

The drive back to the penthouse was completely silent. To distract himself, he texted both Vaughn and his parents. Vaughn assumed Rhys was staying the night with his ‘boyfriend’. And his parents assumed he was staying one more night with Vaughn to ‘work on one of their projects’. He felt bad for lying to both of them but...he really did feel more safe with Jack around. Especially now that he knew that Atlas knew about him. There was no doubt they would try to do something to get back at Hyperion. Unfortunately, Rhys was an easy target.

“Here.” Rhys lifted his head as Jack made his way around the couch with a bottle of water and a small piece of his birthday cake. With a soft ‘thank you’, Rhys took the items and hesitantly scooted closer to the edge of the couch as Jack sat down beside him. They hadn’t even been inside for more than a few minutes and Jack was already...taking care of him. He was being completely different than the man he saw in the morning, the one that looked like he wanted to strangle him. 

“I need to apologize for this morning, kid.” As if reading his mind, the subject quickly changed to what had happened this morning, making Rhys pause in the middle of his drinking. Twisting the cap back on the water bottle, Rhys looked over at Jack, not saying anything but still offering his full attention.

Before he began, Jack ran a hand through his own hair, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Look, you...you scared the shit out of me, okay? Of course, anyone would worry about the house friggin’ burning down. But, I...I...shit.” Squeezing his eyes shut, Jack leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. All the while, Rhys watched him in complete confusion. What the hell was going on? 

“You...I was concerned about you more than the house, okay? I didn’t know how to deal with that shit so I took it out on you. Then...ugh, then you went and said that you were trying to do it for me and I just felt bad, kid, okay? I...ugh. I _apologize_.” Jack grit the word out as if it were poison, making Rhys guess that he wasn’t the type to apologize...well, at all. But that definitely made the apology seem more genuine, seeing how it almost pained Jack to say it. 

With a small smile, Rhys just shrugged his shoulders, trying to act like it was no big deal, even though his heart was already racing at the fact that Jack was more worried about him. “It’s okay. You...You had every right to get mad. I just sorta tried to make breakfast on a whim, should’ve thought it through a bit more and reminded myself that I’m still really new to cooking.” Rhys let out a chuckle, a faint blush tinting his cheeks as he ducked his head. “I never got a chance to apologize either. I’m, um...sorry. For being careless. I’ll leave the cooking to you for now.” Glancing up from underneath his lashes, Rhys offered Jack a shy smile, to which Jack just shook his head and snorted.

“Nah, you’ll be getting friggin’ cooking lessons the next few years. Can’t have ya not knowing how to set an oven properly. Seriously, kid, 475 degrees for _bacon_? That’s a little overkill.” 

“I’ve...I’ve never used an oven before.”

“...Shit, what am I gonna do with you?”


	7. The Hit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I updated this! But as I was going through my fics to see if I could find it in me to continue any of them, I just knew I had to get back into this. I adore this idea so much and I'm really excited to delve further into the real plot. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Follow my tumblr and come say hi! <https://hancock4prez.tumblr.com/>

**Friday, November 22nd - Rhys - 17 Years Old**

 

Rhys’ heart was racing, hands shaking as he tried to button up his shirt. Today was the day. The day that Rhys would watch Jack while he was doing his hit. Jack had reassured him that he had it all planned out, that he was gonna get the guy while he was outside and that he and Wilhelm will be able to watch from a nearby hill with binoculars. That was definitely nice to know but his main concern was whether his stomach would be able to handle watching something like that. He knew his first time seeing something like that would be...rough. But he didn’t want to seem like a friggin’ wimp in front of Jack and Wilhelm. 

“Can’t...get this...fucking thing....o...n.” Rhys stopped his complaining as soon as Jack approached him, gloved hands coming up to brush away Rhys’ own hands so he could button up his shirt instead. Clearly, Jack could see how nervous he was, even though he had tried to hide it the whole week. And though he was definitely still nervous, he couldn’t help but let his eyes drift to Jack’s outfit.

Jack was...hot like this. He wore a white dress shirt that matched his own, though his was rolled up just past his elbows. A yellow tie hung around his neck, still needing to be tied. And the look was finished off with a pair of black dress pants and the brown belt he always wore. But the part he loved the most was...those goddamn black leather gloves. Rhys had assumed he liked some fetishes and kinky things, just from all of the porn watching nights and research online. BDSM, dirty talk, degradation, daddy kinks, but...goddamnit, he never thought leather gloves would be a fetish of his but it was very clear that they were. As Jack’s hands got higher to push the next button through the hole, Rhys wasn’t able to hide a shiver as his hand brushed against his collarbone. 

Oh, and Jack definitely noticed. There was that little glint in his eye again. And there was no hiding that little smirk of his. _Bastard_.

“Alright, tell me what you’ll be doing.”

“Ugh. I’ll be on the hill with Wilhelm, away from sight. I’ll use the binoculars to watch and if anyone comes, I’ll follow Wilhelm’s lead and be prepared to either run or fight. I’ll have my knife on me at all times just in case. We’ll meet you back at the car, Wilhelm will drive us back to the penthouse, blah blah blah, that’s pretty much it, right? Come on, you’ve been making me memorize this all week now.” 

“ _And_...”

Rhys’ breath caught in his throat as Jack took his chin between his thumb and forefinger, jerking it up to stare him directly in his heterochromatic eyes. God, his eyes were so intense. They were just...drawing him in. To the point where Rhys couldn’t move even if he wanted to. And he really didn’t want to.

“You _will_ keep your eyes on me. Even as my knife slides through that asshole’s throat, you _will_ watch. I don’t care if you get nauseous, I don’t care if you want to pass out or throw up, _watch me_. You won’t get anywhere in Hyperion if you don’t get used to seeing this shit. Do you understand me?” Jack finally let go of his chin when he was done speaking, allowing Rhys to hesitantly nod, not exactly feeling too happy about the fact that he really had to watch. He knew Jack would be pissed if he tried to look away though. 

Even as Jack stepped back to focus on tying his tie, Rhys was still struggling to breathe. Jack’s voice had been so firm and demanding and deep and just... _hot_. God, he barely even did anything and he was already starting to feel lightheaded. And he still had to wait another year to really do anything with him. Why does his life suck so much?

***

“How long do we have to wait?”

“You have zero patience, don’t you?”

Rhys stuck his tongue out at Wilhelm but didn’t deny it. He definitely lacked patience, that had always been clear to him. But eh, he didn’t seem that changing anytime soon. 

Rhys and Wilhelm had been waiting for at least half an hour after Jack left, though Rhys could still see Jack in the forest if he looked close enough with the binoculars. It was...interesting. Rhys wasn’t anywhere near him but he could still tell that Jack was in a different headspace. He just...kept twirling and playing with his knife while he watched the back door to the hit’s house. There was a grin on his face that was...oddly terrifying. It was scary to think that...that grin was because he was excited. He was excited to kill, to finish his job. And that was just something Rhys couldn’t wrap his head around. How could someone feel excited to...to take someone’s life away? 

“He’s moving.” Rhys murmured as he carefully sat back down on the grass cross-legged, keeping his binoculars trained on Jack just as he was told. Though for a moment, he had moved them to the side to see why he was moving, finding that the hit had turned around to...do something with his plants? Ugh, he couldn’t tell. Especially not with the night vision.

Eventually, he moved his attention back to Jack, who was just...sauntering up to the guy like it was nothing. That was actually scary as shit. Rhys never realized how...easy it could be to get attacked just with your back turned. If this guy never turned around, he would never see Jack coming. He would never see his _death_ coming. 

Once Jack got closer to the backyard, Rhys reluctantly switched off the night vision so he could see more clearly, knowing the light in the backyard would be enough for him to see. Nothing was even happening yet and his stomach was already flipping in anticipation. He just couldn’t get over the idea that he was about to see Jack seriously kill someone. It was easy to be okay with the idea that Jack was a hitman because...well, he had never actually seen him in action before. It never fully clicked until now. It never fully clicked how...dangerous Jack really was. Sure, he didn’t think Jack would ever try to kill him unless he royally fucked up but...still. It was clear now that Jack was more than capable of doing it if he wanted to.

“Remember what Jack told you, kid.”

“I know, I know. Keep my eyes on him even if I wanna pass out or puke.” Grumbling, Rhys decided he had enough time to glance towards Wilhelm who was standing over him, raising an eyebrow. “How was it for you when you first witnessed this kinda stuff?” While waiting for Wilhelm’s answer, Rhys turned his attention back to Jack through the binoculars. He and Wilhelm had actually gotten a lot closer this week. Jack’s plan after running into Atlas at the club had been to have Wilhelm guard him whenever he could. That meant picking him up near the bus stop both before and after school. Basically, Wilhelm had turned into Rhys’ personal chauffeur. Because it was about a 15 minute drive to school, there was enough time for them to chat. Or, well...for Rhys to initiate a conversation because he hated the awkward silence. Over the past couple days, the car rides had gotten a lot less awkward and much more comfortable. Wilhelm was sorta like...a huge older brother that Rhys never had. And it...it was really nice. 

“I got nauseous, that much I remember. You think you’d remember your first time seeing that shit, but I honestly blacked out for most of it. I think you’ll be alright, kid.” Rhys should’ve been reassured. But he couldn’t feel anything but anxiety when Jack approached the man from behind, just mere feet away. 

From that point, Jack moved so quick that Rhys could’ve easily blinked and missed everything. But he forced himself to keep his eyes wide open, even as his stomach began to swirl and tighten at what he was watching.

The guy didn’t see Jack coming at all. As soon as he straightened up after watering one of his plants, Jack jumped on the opportunity to take him out. One gloved hand went to cover the man’s mouth, staying completely still even as the man clearly struggled. But the struggling didn’t last long. Soon enough, Jack lifted his switchblade to swiftly slide the blade through his throat. And Jack...Rhys knew what he was doing when he turned just enough to face the hill they were on, giving Rhys a clear...a very clear view of the layer of crimson that ran down the man’s skin, quickly soaking into the white sweater he was wearing. From their position, Rhys could clearly see the slash left along his throat, open and just... _oozing_ blood. 

There was no doubt he would end up passing out if he watched too much longer. So, he squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds, taking that time to try to calm down the unpleasant swirling in his stomach. God, he was so nauseous. How does anyone get used to this? How the hell was _he_ supposed to get used to this? No, this was impossible. There was no way he could....

Unable to look any longer, Rhys carelessly tossed the binoculars aside in favor of clutching at his stomach as if that would sooth his nausea. With his eyes still closed, he mumbled to Wilhelm. “I saw enough. Jack can get mad at me later for not watching the whole thing. I can’t do it.”

“I think you watched enough of it. He was being a bit of a dick anyway, showing you like that.” Rhys chuckled at the comment, shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah, that...that wasn’t a pretty sight.”

“Never is. But you get used to it, you need to remember that. Now come on, let’s let the cleaners do their job and grab the body.” ‘The body’. Before, that was a man. A man who did some shitty things to people but still a man nonetheless. But now, he was just...a body. A lifeless body with its soul taken away. If Jack expected him to do this himself in the future...he was going to be extremely disappointed. There was no way Rhys would ever be in Jack’s place. Never. 

“Need help, kid?” Finally opening his eyes, Rhys lifted his head to see Wilhelm holding his hand out towards him. The teen cracked a small smile, his shaky hand lifting to grab onto Wilhelm’s with a weak grip. But it was still enough for Wilhelm to hold onto it tight and help him back onto his feet. Just going through that motion was enough for Rhys to have to purse his lips shut, the contents in his stomach quickly threatening to come up and leave his mouth. With a whimper, Rhys clutched onto Wilhelm’s arms, this time finding it much harder to settle his stomach. His legs threatened to give out from under him, causing Wilhelm to have to hook one arm around him and help him down the hill. All the while, Rhys was trying desperately not to actually puke.

By the time they reached Jack’s car, Rhys’ stomach had settled and he was able to walk on his own without having to lean on Wilhelm for support, though he was still a little lightheaded. God, he just wanted to get back to the penthouse, go to sleep and forget that today ever happened. He really hoped Jack wouldn’t want to have him do this again anytime soon. Because fuck that. Fuck all of that. He needed at least a month to recover from all of that shit.

Rubbing his hand against his forehead, Rhys leaned against Jack’s car with a heavy sigh, feeling both physically and mentally exhausted from everything that happened. It was...what? Almost 12am now? Ughhhhhh.

“Like the show, kitten?” The sound of Jack’s voice startled Rhys enough to almost lose his balance, having to catch himself on the door handle just to keep himself up. 

“J-Jack, I, um...” Rhys lost his voice as soon as Jack lifted a gloved, bloodied hand. There was that smirk on his face again, his eyes were dark and glazed over and...god, he was terrifying. If he wasn’t already pressed up against the car, Rhys would’ve backed away to put some distance between them.

Especially when Jack reached out, fingers dragging over his cheek and smearing the sticky substance over his skin. Then he said something...it sounded like some sort of praise but Rhys couldn’t pay attention to it. Not when his vision blurred and a darkness started to close in until he was completely consumed by it, the last thing he remembered being the faint ‘shit’ that was muttered under Jack’s breath as he caught Rhys’ limp body in his arms.

***

It was past 3am when Rhys woke up, completely changed out of his ‘fancier’ clothes and into one of his new pairs of pajamas, which was just dark blue plaid pants and a matching long sleeved shirt. He wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but he assumed he must’ve passed out after Jack...and the blood...and the...yeah.

Rhys didn’t know what to think anymore. All he thought was that maybe he was in way over his head. He didn’t know he would have _that_ bad of a reaction to seeing Jack kill someone. And then having someone else’s blood on him just...ugh, he was getting woozy again.

Rolling over onto his back, Rhys stared up at the ceiling, unable to get the memories of last night out of his head. What the hell had he gotten himself into? It wasn’t like he could just...change his mind and go back to being a normal teenager again. Atlas already knew about him and...honestly, he didn’t know if Jack trusted him enough to just let him go back out into the world, knowing Rhys could easily sell out Hyperion to the police. Not that Rhys would, really. Rhys was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a snitch. And he definitely wouldn’t snitch on the man that did his best to protect him throughout all of this. 

But what he saw last night was a completely different side to Jack. It wasn’t the sweet protector Rhys had come to know. No, he finally saw the other side of Jack. The friggin’...psychotic, murderous side. The side that made Rhys wonder how insane _he_ was to actually be okay with this. But...ugh, he really wasn’t okay with any of it, that was a total lie. But he dealt with it. Why? Really, what the hell was he going to gain from being a part of Hyperion? He was practically losing his family because of it, he had to lie to his best friends, he had to have a bodyguard because he just wasn’t completely safe anymore...why was he doing this?

No matter how much he thought about it and tried to figure out an answer...he just couldn’t. He couldn’t figure out why he’s sticking around when all of this is just so...frightening and intense. He saw a man get killed, for fuck’s sake. _Jack_ killed him. The same man that’s been taking care of him all this time. Would...would Jack even hesitate to kill him too? Hah, that’s just...just crazy. Jack wouldn’t kill anyone outside of his hits...r-right?...Right?

Shaking his head, Rhys squeezed his eyes shut and rolled back over onto his side, clutching one of his extra pillows to his chest. He needed to stop thinking about all of that. It was 3am, he could just go back to sleep for a few more hours and then everything would be fine. 

No. No, it wouldn’t be fine. Not when the second Rhys closed his eyes, he could see the face of the man Jack killed. He could see how the light drained from his eyes, how the blood steadily ran down his throat and...

A loud gasp left Rhys’ lips as his eyes flew open and he jolted upright. Before he knew it, his legs were already taking him out of the bedroom. He couldn’t understand why this was his first instinct. When this _exact_ person had freaked him out so much. But at the same time, this person made him feel safe like no one else had before. God, Rhys was fucked up. So fucking stupidly fucked up.

“Jack?” Rhys’ voice was a soft whisper as he peeked his head into Jack’s bedroom. He knew Jack was up. He was always up late and it made Rhys wonder if he ever even slept. Plus, there was a dim light spilling out into the hallway that further confirmed his suspicion that he was still awake. 

He didn’t get much of an answer. More so...just a rough grunt. But it was all Rhys needed to hear for him to push the door open the rest of the way and awkwardly make his way inside. As he thought, Jack was definitely still wide awake, laying back in bed with his laptop on his lap. Thankfully, he had also changed out of his clothes from last night. Instead, he was wearing a baggy gray t-shirt and matching sweatpants, his black rimmed glasses slipped down his nose as he peered up from the screen. And god, Rhys wanted to let out a sigh of relief when he saw the look in Jack’s eyes. It wasn’t dark and crazed like it was before. His eyes were soft, though clearly surprised to see Rhys in his room so late at night.

When Jack tried to speak up, most likely to ask him what the hell he was doing, Rhys just lifted a hand to silence him and made his way over to the side of his bed. His heart was pounding in his ears, he probably wouldn’t have heard what Jack had to say anyway. If he was in a calmer state of mind, he would be giddy thinking about how he was getting into bed with Jack, even though it definitely wasn’t for anything sexual.

Rhys carefully climbed up onto the bed, while still being sure to watch Jack’s reactions just in case. But Jack seemed to just be doing the same. He watched Rhys intently, probably wondering what the fuck he was doing. And honestly, Rhys was wondering the same thing. Why was this his first reaction, of all things? To run to Jack and...then things would magically be alright? How stupid was he?

Maybe...maybe not that stupid. Because as soon as Rhys settled into the bed, still keeping a fair distance between the two of them...Rhys felt far more at ease. Like maybe things could be okay, maybe things weren’t as scary as he was making them out to be. All of the stupid thoughts in his head seemed to calm down as soon as he rested his head on Jack’s pillow, inhaling the mix of expensive cologne and cigarette smoke that was so... _so_ oddly comforting to him. Because it was just...Jack. Jack is safety. Comfort. But he was also fear. Fear and adrenaline and... _why_ the fuck didn’t that matter to him?

“Hey. What’s going on, kitten?” Jack’s voice was soft and calming and...fuck, Rhys just wanted him to keep talking. 

“Just...kept seeing his face. The blood, the life fading away, it’s just too much, all of it i-is just too much.” Before Rhys started letting his anxiety take over, Jack put his laptop aside and scooted closer to the teen, who was busy digging his nails into his palms. But once he felt those strong arms encircling him, everything else just...started to fade away. Like none of it mattered anymore. Like...Like only Jack mattered. And with him around, everything would be okay. 

Lips pressed to the top of his head and Rhys let out a shaky sigh, uncurling his fingers to pick at the fabric of Jack’s t-shirt instead. “I want to be...strong. Y’know? I want to...not be freaked out over all of this. It fucking sucks. You’re all confident and shit and...” Rhys didn’t know where the fuck he was going with all of this. So he thought it would be better to just shut up before he started making a fool of himself.

But of course, Jack still laughed at him anyway. “Kid, come on, you...you’re serious? I’ve been at this for _years_. Everyone is like you when they first start out. Athena, Wilhelm, even me. No one has this natural ability to handle all of this intense shit right away. So stop thinking that you’re supposed to be completely okay with this. I’d be afraid if you were.” Rhys couldn’t help but chuckle at that. He...did seem to have a point. Being okay with everything Hyperion stands for would be...really, really weird. Still...he felt like he was almost letting Jack down with how he was handling it so far.

But Jack seemed to read his mind. Because he continued. “Don’t let Wilhelm know I told you this but...I feel like you’re doing better than he did at first. For a while, he couldn’t handle being in the same room with someone who was bleeding out. Even if he wasn’t looking at the person.”

“But...Wilhelm’s the strongest guy I know. He’s so stoic, like none of this fazes him at all.”

“See? He went from being wimpier than you to being this huge friggin’ rock that can deal with all this shit.”

Okay, Jack definitely had a point. If Wilhelm, of all people, could be like him and turn into what he is now...maybe there was some hope for Rhys. Maybe. At this point, it felt like he would never get used to anything. But maybe he was wrong. Who knows? In a few years, all of this could be a friggin’ breeze to him. 

“So, don’t worry about it, okay? Things will get better once you start all of your training. It’ll keep your mind off of all the blood and guts. I promise. How about you go back to bed and try to get some more sleep?” Oh. Oh, Rhys didn’t like that idea. Not one bit. Going back to bed meant being away from Jack again. Fuck, he was in deep. He didn’t...love Jack at all. That was for damn sure. But...he did like Jack. He liked Jack a lot. He liked the way Jack looked at him sometimes. Amused and...almost enthralled by him. No one ever looked at him that way. He liked the way Jack could go from rough to gentle in no time. Like the gentle, comforting hand on his back. Or the strong grip on his jaw when he goes just a little out of line. He liked it. He liked all of it. So...he could look past all of the shit that freaks him out.

With a small shake of his head, Rhys just clutched onto the front of Jack’s shirt, making it clear that he had no intentions of moving. And Jack chuckled at that, lifting one hand from around him to playfully ruffle up his hair.

“Alright, alright. Just this once. Only ‘cause you’re cute, ‘kay?”

And Rhys was more than okay with that. Because nothing sounded better than falling asleep again, safe, comfortable and just...content.


	8. Halloween Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. I didn't think I would be putting out another chapter this soon but here I am. You can expect the timeline to jump around a bit like this from now on, but I've tried my best to make it as easy to understand as possible. Probably failed but I did try.
> 
> Follow my Tumblr and come say hi! <https://hancock4prez.tumblr.com/>

**Thursday, October 31st - Jack - 39 Years Old**

“We’re not gonna match.”

“Come ooooooon, it’ll be fun!”

“The point of the party is to mingle with our rivals in a public setting. To hear what they could be planning. _Not_ to wear stupid matching costumes.”

“But you’d be a hot vampire.”

“We’ll talk about this later. Get back to training or I’ll beat your ass with that stick.”

The kid knew it was an empty threat, which was made obvious by the suggestive wiggle of his brows. God, this kid...ugh. Gritting his teeth, Jack held his hand out expectantly, taking the water bottle that was handed over to him before nodding his head towards Athena.

“Offense. That’s enough with the defense. He has natural instincts to defend himself but he’s still useless when it comes to actual combat. Don’t roll your eyes at me.” Jack’s gaze hardened as he caught the tail end of Rhys’ eye roll, pointing a calloused finger towards him. “If you want to stop relying on Wilhelm to protect you, you have to realize that you just being able to defend yourself won't get you anywhere. Now, _go_.” 

Once Rhys turned his back, Jack just shook his head in disbelief. It had been almost a year since he took Rhys in. Which also meant almost a year of Rhys’ personality. Before, all Jack had to do was growl at the kid and he’d be shaking. Now...ugh, now he just talked back to him because he knew all of his threats were empty at this point. Jack tried punishing him, at first. Much like a father would, actually. Taking away his phone or ability to see his friends for a week. Then Jack realized that he would _really_ rather not act like a father again and changed his tactics. Which then lead to more physical punishments. Nothing that was non-consensual. Beforehand, Jack would always, _always_ make sure that Rhys was okay with his planned punishment. And almost always, he was. The only time he wasn’t was when Jack almost placed a cut where it would be most visible. Rhys hadn’t wanted that, because he knew he would get questions about it. 

And that was Rhys’ punishment for...a couple months, probably. Slices into his skin. Deep enough to leave scars. So it would always be a constant reminder of his punishments. But after some point, even that threat began to die down. Rhys...the little fucker was starting to almost _enjoy_ it. There was just a certain look in his eyes. Looked like he was almost...excited, when Jack would approach him with his knife. While it really friggin’ annoyed him that he was starting to run out of punishment ideas, it was...fascinating. To watch Rhys continue to grow and transform into this kid that just...didn’t give two shits about the pain.

But that wasn’t the only way Rhys had transformed. The most amazing transformation was Rhys’ reaction to blood, gore and death. He may have been in his usual headspace during the first hit where the kid had watched, but he remembered clearly how much it freaked him out. And it continued to freak him out the next couple times he watched. Rhys was always so friggin’ tense when he got into the car afterwards, the blood practically drained from his face. Kid always looked like he would pass out any second. Thankfully, that never happened again after the first time. But the reaction still made Jack worry about how long it would take for him to adjust.

That changed when they had caught an Atlas spy sneaking around after their typical business hours, rummaging through all of their shit. Now, it had been a pretty damn boring year. All of the hits were boring. Everyone was paying on time. The only thing keeping Jack from getting antsy was having to train Rhys. So, while he was definitely _fuming_ that Atlas would stoop so low as to get a friggin’ spy to steal information...boy, was he excited. 

The next morning, Jack dragged the unwilling teen with him to watch the torturing process, of which he would be leading. Rhys hated the idea. He was okay with Jack friggin’ killing bastards who deserved it, but apparently slow, painful torture wasn’t his thing. Or so he thought.

_”How much information did you get?”_

_“I _told_ you, your assholes caught me before I could get any-fuck!”_

_The sickening but oh, so fucking satisfying sound of bones cracking filled the small, closed off room as Jack yanked back the spy’s forefinger. It was still the beginning stages. These broken bones were nothing compared to what could happen if this asshole doesn’t tell the truth soon. Fuck, he really hoped this idiot would drag this out even longer. After not being able to do anything remotely satisfying this year, Jack wanted nothing more than to torture the spy for the rest of the day._

_“You won’t get anywhere by doing that.” Jack almost didn’t hear Rhys speak up. He was far too busy focusing on the whimpers and groans coming from the chair in front of him. With his eyebrows raised, Jack glanced over his shoulder to see Rhys leaning against the door and watching, almost...bored. This was...interesting._

_Jack let out a soft hum and stood up straight, turning around to face the kid with his arms crossed over his chest. “And what exactly do you think I should do then?”_

_“I’unno...I, um...I-I didn’t mean to say that...out loud.” There was a dark blush on Rhys’ cheeks as he shifted on his feet, now trying to look anywhere but Jack. Ohhh, this really was interesting. A wide grin spread over Jack’s lips, gesturing back towards the spy._

_“By all means, pumpkin, tell me what I should do.” Rhys looked as if he couldn’t tell if Jack was serious or not. But after a long pause, the kid eventually spoke up, completely shocking Jack and probably Wilhelm as well._

_“M...Make him bleed. Rip off his nails, cut off his fingers or...whatever else. Or...strangle him...maybe? Like...bring him close to losing consciousness. Let him go, do it all over again. Make him fear death.”_

To date, Jack still didn’t really know where that came from. All he knew was that he saw a change in Rhys since then. He worked harder during his training, he was harder to startle or freak out, he just seemed...stronger. Mentally. Physically...well, they were still working on that. It would be a while until Jack would be able to confidently say that Rhys could hold his own. But it was a start. 

Jack felt...proud. This was _his_ doing. Jack helped make Rhys stronger. Okay...maybe he wasn’t as proud of Rhys as he was proud of himself but still. He was still pretty proud of the kid too. Really...really proud.

As Rhys continued his combat training, he couldn’t help but crack a small smile. The kid had so much potential. Jack knew he was lucky to stumble across him that day, all awkward and totally unaware of his own strengths. He was going to end up being an amazing addition to Hyperion one day. And...damnit, the kid was a great addition to his life in general. Always kept him on his toes. And it was nice to...have someone to come home to again. After Angel....

Jack shook his head as if that would rid away any of those thoughts. No, no thinking about that. Nothing good would come out of thinking about her. Nothing good _ever_ came out of thinking about her. So, he tried to focus on Rhys’ training, occasionally scolding the kid when he started slacking off. But needless to say, his mood had plummeted.

***

In the end, the kid convinced him to put on the...stupid vampire costume. But only because he really wasn’t in the mood to hear Rhys whining anymore. To the kid’s credit, he only made him put on the fake fangs and red contacts. Didn’t make him go full on friggin’ Dracula. Jack was still able to wear his usual suit, a fitted black velvet suit that he always wore in the fall and winter months, mainly due to it being warmer than the others he had. 

Rhys, on the other hand...Jack made sure he didn’t look too stupid. Especially after Rhys had come into the living room late at night last week to show him the costume he wanted to wear on his phone. Uh uh. As long as Jack was taking care of him, he wasn’t gonna let the kid make a complete friggin’ fool of himself like that. Instead, Jack had him dressed in a black silk button down shirt, tight fitting slacks and a skinny yellow tie. It was basic. Of course it was. Rhys wasn’t exactly a part of Hyperion yet, it would be weird to have him dressed to the nines during his first party.

The only stupid part about Rhys’ outfit was the bite marks on his neck. The kid had found one of those cheap little Halloween tattoos to put on his neck that looked like a vampire’s bite. Then the kid tried to make it more realistic with some special effects make up but...honestly, it just looked even worse. Jack didn’t have the heart to tell him that though.

Athena did that for him.

“What, uh...what’s that on your neck?” Rhys paused mid-sentence with his small talk with Jack as he looked towards Athena, who had lightly prodded at the ‘bite’ on his neck. The kid, bless his heart, grinned at her proudly.

“I got one of those bite mark temporary tattoos and added some stuff to make it look more realistic. Cool, huh?” The kid tilted his head to the side to give her a better view of his neck. But Athena just pursed her lips together as they started to twitch, trying desperately not to laugh. As soon as Jack gave her a warning glare, all thoughts of laughing seemed to vanish and she stammered out a reply instead.

“U-Uh, yeah, it looks real cool, Rhys. I’m, uh...I’m gonna go over there.” Jack just rolled his eyes as she quickly made her way over to the drink table. Rhys continued to stare at her before eventually shrugging his shoulders and turning back towards Jack. He began to open his mouth to speak, but Jack beat him to it.

Reaching out, Jack placed his hands on Rhys’ shoulders, gripping hard enough to catch his full attention. “Never leave my sight, understand me? This place is packed full of rivals and Wilhelm isn’t here to look after you. _I_ can’t look after you either. I have to mingle and do business shit. So, you better have some goddamn common sense tonight or else you...just...shit, just don’t be stupid, understand?” 

***

**Thursday, October 31st - Rhys - 17 Years Old**

The serious, almost menacing way Jack spoke brought back a fear that Rhys hadn’t felt in months. He and Jack had been going well ever since after New Years. Yeah, Rhys got punished a few times for being...well, himself. But still, they had been going well. He was never too rough with him anymore and Rhys had decided it was best to just listen to what Jack told him to do, instead of being stubborn and rebellious and...well, not doing it. So to see Jack like this again was a bit of a shock. But maybe a much needed shock. Considering that before Jack said anything, Rhys was already planning on going off and talking to people. 

Swallowing thickly, Rhys just nodded, not trusting his own voice enough to speak. But Jack seemed content with his minimal response and let go of his shoulders before turning to the group of Vladof employees a couple feet away. Knowing he expected Rhys to follow, he made sure to stay right behind the hitman as he moved. The Vladof employees looked at him in complete interest, which just made Rhys want to hide under Jack’s jacket. As much as he enjoyed attention, he didn’t enjoy _that_ kind of attention. Not when he knew exactly what they were thinking. They were trying to figure him out, assess his potential just from seeing how he looked on the outside. 

But Jack never introduced him. Never even acknowledged his presence. Even when people asked about him throughout the party, he would just skip over the question. 

Honestly, it _really_ pissed Rhys off. 

It pissed him off even more when Maliwan’s leader asked about Jack’s fake fangs and contacts, to which he responded with a laugh and talked about how stupid they were. As if Rhys wasn’t _right_ next to him. Uh uh. He had e-fucking-nough of this. The next time Jack moved to the next group, Rhys drifted off into the crowd, making sure Jack’s eyes weren’t on him before he hurried over to the drink table. 

“Asshole.” Rhys grumbled under his breath as he poured himself a glass of champagne. One of the guards watching the table (most likely to make sure no one poisons anything) eyed him suspiciously, to which Rhys just rolled his eyes. “I’m allowed.” He sounded like a brat even to his own ears, but he couldn’t care less at this point. All he wanted to do was drink and forget about Jack for the time being. Which apparently wasn’t too hard when a girl, seeming to be just about his age, came up to grab herself a glass as well.

She was cute. If Rhys had more of an interest in girls, he would already be trying to awkwardly flirt with her. She had shoulder length red hair that was pulled up into two pigtails, both of which had a bright, clear crystal gem on top of the hair ties. And she had these equally bright green eyes that...oh shit, were looking right at him.

Nearly choking on his champagne, Rhys stuttered out a greeting. “H-H-Hi. Um...whoa, sorry. Ahem. Um...hi?” He flashed an awkward smile, feeling his cheeks slowly start to heat up as the girl stared at him incredulously. God, he was really good at making a fool of himself. 

“Gaige.”

“...Huh?”

“My name. It’s Gaige. What’s up?” Rhys felt like he could jump for joy right now. She was _cool_. She seemed like a totally normal teenager, which was a complete change from what he had been dealing with at the party so far. But he still tried to keep his excitement down and merely gave Gaige a grin instead.

“I’m Rhys. Um...so...boring party, huh?” Rhys raised his eyebrows, taking another sip of his champagne to calm his nerves.

“Eh. My boss introduced me to some pretty cool people, so it’s not too boring. I’m Atlas’ future assassin, by the way. Nice to meet ya, Rhys.” Gaige grinned proudly, but Rhys’ heart sank. First, he knew he wasn’t supposed to be talking to anyone involved with Atlas. And...god, that kind of hurt. She wasn’t an official part of Atlas either, but she was still being introduced to everyone. Jack...Jack didn’t even acknowledge his presence the past couple hours. The only times he would would be when he’s making sure Rhys was still following him. 

Now feeling his mood sink even further, Rhys leaned against the table and let out a soft sigh. He was already talking to Gaige and she seemed nice enough, what was the harm in talking to her more? Anything to make him feel less shitty about himself. “I’m, um...part of Hyperion. Sort of. Not yet, but...like you, just sort of...in training I guess?”

To his surprise, Gaige didn’t even seem fazed by the fact that he was part of Hyperion. She just nodded and sipped at her drink, raising her eyebrows at him. “What’re you gonna do when you’re done training?” Huh. That...huh. Rhys never thought about it. Jack said before that they’d see what he’s good at and then work from there. But after training for almost a year now, surely he would have some idea, right?

“I...don’t know, actually. Jack always said I had good instincts but I still don’t know what I’m gonna be doing yet.”

“What are you good at?”

“Um...well, I was good at defending myself. Then I focused more on offense and...now I need to work on defense again. My reflexes are pretty decent, I guess. And I’m good at math, I just don’t like it. That means there are a few jobs I could do but...nothing’s been decided yet, I guess.”

“Ah, I see you’ve found Hyperion’s future star.”

Rhys’ whole body tensed at the sound of the gruff voice coming from behind Gaige. Mismatched eyes flickered from the girl to look behind her, falling on a vaguely familiar man in a black and red suit. The last time he had seen him was at the club with Nisha. It was terrifying enough being in the same _room_ as him. But now...he was practically face to face with Atlas’ leader. His hazel eyes were dark and just as intense as they were last year. Rhys stepped back as if those eyes had burned him. He was about to hurry off and go back to Jack but one look from Atlas’ leader made him freeze in place. It was a look that said ‘Don’t you dare leave’. And Rhys could only helplessly obey, his sweat-slicked fingers gripping his glass so hard he was afraid it would break. It was like he was being _suffocated_ just by his presence. His heart rate sped up, his breath kept catching in his throat and his hands were getting clammy. 

Absolutely...absolutely nothing good was going to come out of this.


	9. Hyperion's New...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter this time but definitely an important one! This was also a pretty fun chapter to write, despite being short. Whenever I can get into Jack's head a bit more, I always seem to have a fun time. 
> 
> And I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has left comments on this fic so far. It had started out as some random idea that I wanted to go with, but didn't really have any plans to continue. But once I started writing it more seriously and seeing your comments when each chapter was posted, it really made me want to continue this even more. So once again, thank you and I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Follow my Tumblr and come say hi! <https://hancock4prez.tumblr.com/>

**Thursday, October 31st - Rhys - 17 Years Old**

 

“Good, um...g-good evening...sir.”

Fuck, he shouldn’t have gone off on his own. He should’ve just stayed with Jack and dealt with all of his bullshit and asshole-ness. Feeling like shit was so much better than feeling like he was going to be eaten alive.

Atlas’ leader looked him over thoroughly, making Rhys feel even more vulnerable as his gaze swept over every inch of his body. Meanwhile, Gaige offered a sympathetic smile, almost as if she knew her boss had this kind of effect on people. Once he was done, Atlas’ leader glanced back up at his face with a hum of approval before stepping past Gaige and extending his hand towards him.

“Luke Winters. It’s a pleasure to meet Hyperion’s new addition...Rhys, right?” All Rhys could do was nod, his own shaking hand hesitantly raising to shake the other’s. The teen nearly yelped as ‘Luke’ clamped down on his own hand, giving a strong, firm handshake that almost left Rhys’ hand throbbing as he pulled away.

“How’s the Hyperion life treating you? You know, we could always use new additions to Atlas.” Ah...that’s where this was going. Wilhelm had warned him a while back that Atlas’ main goal with him would be to get him to choose Atlas instead. And though he was definitely still frustrated with Jack, he just knew he couldn’t possibly give up on what he’s been training for. Well...whatever that may end up being.

Once he realized Luke’s true intentions, Rhys offered a polite smile and shook his head. “I appreciate the offer but I’m content with Hyperion. Everyone is almost like family to me.”

“You know,” Luke continued, as if he completely ignored what Rhys had just said. “for people who are like family, I haven’t really heard your name mentioned at all tonight. Spoke with Jack myself too, asked about you. It’s funny, everyone here knows about Gaige and how great she’s been. After being with Hyperion for a year, I would have thought Jack would brag about you and your skills.”

Luke knew exactly what to say to get Rhys’ heart aching again. He was right. About all of it. If they really were like family, then he was the black sheep of the family right now. No one wanted to talk about him or even acknowledge him. How was that even fair? He was working his ass off to be the best he could be for Hyperion. And he wasn’t getting any of the recognition he deserved. What the _fuck_ was up with that?

“We’d be lucky to have you at Atlas, Rhys. You seem like you have a lot of potential, very similar to Gaige. She’s fast, has great reflexes, which I overhead you do as well. Maybe you two could train together and learn a bit from each other.” Rhys chewed at his lower lip as he...actually considered the offer. At the same time, Gaige’s eyes lit up and she grinned at him, nodding her head furiously. Yeah, it...it seemed nice. To have someone he could learn with and not feel completely overwhelmed with everyone else’s experience in the training room. Being appreciated sounded really nice too. Fuck, what was he thinking?

“What are you doing with my boy, Atlas?”

Rhys felt a wave of relief washing over him when he heard Jack’s voice behind him. Turning to face him, Rhys expected to feel the same fear he felt when Luke came up. But instead, he felt...peace. Jack’s eyes were hard, furious. And his jaw was clenched so tight he worried he might break a tooth. But the anger wasn’t directed towards him, which was proved when Jack’s arm came up to wrap around his shoulders, his large hand wrapped around his upper arm in a possessive hold. It took everything Rhys had not to lean into him and just _purr_. No, now wasn’t the time. Jack was pissed. It was smarter to try to stay out of the crossfire as much as he could.

“Your boy? Well, isn’t that sweet.” Luke’s words were couple with a smirk, one that made it clear he was pleased with pissing off Hyperion’s top hitman. “Well, ‘your boy’ and I were just having a nice chat. Looks like he and Gaige get along pretty well.”

“They’re the same age, why wouldn’t they?” Jack’s voice was bland, definitely not caring for anything Luke had to say. “Coulda sworn you were propositioning my boy. Now, you wouldn’t have the balls to do that, would ya?” Rhys pressed his lips together to keep himself from snickering as Luke’s lips threatened to twitch up into a sneer. But damnit, hearing Jack call him ‘his boy’ really did things to his heart. He would be swooning if it weren’t for the fact that Jack was still unbelievably pissed.

Finally collecting himself, Luke gave a small shrug and raised his eyebrows at Jack. “I just haven’t heard his name mentioned at all tonight. Felt like he deserved to be somewhere where he was...better appreciated, let’s say.”

Instead of actually responding, Jack just offered a loud scoff and pulled Rhys with him as he turned to the small stage that was set up. Jack had been up there at the beginning of the party to give what was apparently the typical announcements before it all started. So, uh...why he was going there now and bringing Rhys with him, he had no fucking idea.

“S-So, um...m’sorry for wandering off.”

“Kid, I knew you would eventually. Just didn’t expect that asshole to offer you a position at Atlas. Friggin’...we’ll show him.”

Wait...we?

***

strong>Thursday, October 31st - Jack - 39 Years Old

Jack was fuming. Fucking _fuming_. How fucking dare Atlas approach Rhys and try to take him in? He expected Rhys to eventually wander off and do his own thing. He knew Rhys better than to think he would follow his orders all night. Rhys was strong and independent. Rebellious and stubborn. And damnit, he loved that about the kid. To think of someone else taking Rhys in and experiencing everything he had to offer...he couldn’t stand the idea. No, never again. He would _never_ lose to Atlas again. He’d never let them take away someone he cared about again.

As Jack led Rhys up to the stage, he kept him right by his side, for everyone to see. Yes, at first he had no plans to introduce Rhys to anyone. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to let anyone know about Rhys’ skills. Without a doubt, they would try to get him on their side if he did. But with Atlas being...well, Atlas, they already knew everything Rhys had to offer. Thanks to their fucking spies. Of course they would try to catch Rhys whenever they got the chance. It made Jack realize that no matter how hard he tried, someone will always be trying to take Rhys for their own eventually. So, what was the point in hiding him anymore? 

“Ahem.” Jack cleared his throat as he came up to microphone, making Rhys jump in his hold at how his voice practically boomed throughout the building. It took a minute but once everyone’s eyes were on the two of them, he spoke up again. “A good few of you tonight asked about the boy beside me. At the time, I wasn’t ready to answer. But now I am.” Lifting his arm from around Rhys’ shoulder, Jack instead placed his hand around the back of the teen’s neck, taking a moment to relish in the way he tensed for a second under his touch. Now unable to hide his smirk, Jack looked back towards the crowd of bodies as a wave of pride washed over him. “I took Rhys in just about a year ago. When I first saw him, there was just something in his eyes that I couldn’t get past. I was intrigued by this scrawny kid. Even more intrigued when he acted in defense while I was trying to talk to him. Elbowed me and pulled a knife of me. On _me_ of all people. I thought the kid had a death wish.” After a few sparse laughs, Jack continued but this time looking straight at Rhys. “I knew he was Hyperion material right away. I will admit, I felt lucky when he accepted my offer to join. It’s been a year of training and figuring out what this kid would end up doing when he was ready. And I think we’ve finally figured it out.”

The kid looked at him in confusion, whispering under his breath. “What the hell are you talking about?” But Jack just grinned at him, feeling an odd...sense of giddiness. Sure, Rhys probably felt like Jack didn’t care about what he would end up doing. But what he didn’t know was that for the past two months, Jack had spent hours upon hours trying to think of the job Rhys would fit in best. The kid was good at math, that was for sure. But with how much he actually hated it, Jack just didn’t have the heart to make him do something he may end up hating. But every time he thought, he kept going back to the moment they were torturing the Atlas spy. While being a ‘torturer’ wasn’t exactly an official position in Hyperion...Jack could bend the rules a bit and make a job that would fit him perfectly.

Ignoring Rhys’ concerned eyes, Jack faced the crowd once more while guiding Rhys to move up a bit more so he would be the absolute center of attention.

“Meet Hyperion’s future specialized hitman. This kid _knows_ the best ways to torture someone and make them hurt, not only physically but mentally. My job is to take ‘em out quick and easy. Rhys here...he’ll be the one people can go to if they _really_ want to make someone hurt. To draw out their death until they’re beggin’ to be killed. It took a lot of time to come to this decision but I feel like it’ll be the best for him in the long run and I hope he’ll feel the same. Once he gets over his shock.” Jack couldn’t help but chuckle at the look on the kid’s face. Shocked didn’t even begin to explain how he looked. His eyes were wide and surprised, mouth slightly agape as he turned to face Jack, his grip loosened around his glass of champagne. His face seemed a little pale. And for a moment, Jack was worried he may end up fainting on him. 

But the worry didn’t last long. Not when he saw the kid’s eyes beginning to water, though he blinked quickly to try to keep them from actually shedding. “Really?” He continued to whisper, probably not wanting everything he said to end up drifting off into the rest of the building. When Jack nodded his head, the brightest...most genuine smile appeared on Rhys’ face. Just that one smile tugged at something in Jack’s chest. Something strong and deep within him. He hadn’t felt that. Ever. And it confused the fuck out of him. But he brushed it aside for the time being and finally just focused on the clapping from the crowd, mainly from the other Hyperion employees and Hyperion’s allies. Though he did notice that redhead girl - Gaige, was it? - clapping excitedly as well. It was hard to miss her when she was standing up front in her bright red dress. 

Beside her was Luke, looking just as enraged as Jack had felt earlier. And damnit, Jack couldn’t have been more proud. 

Rhys was all his and now everyone knew it.


End file.
